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Soctal Sctence Tert=Books 
EDITED BY RICHARD T. ELY 


OUTLINES OF SOCIOLOGY 


SOCIAL SCIENCE TEXT-BOOKS 


OUTLINES OF ECONOMICS 


By RicHARD T. E Ly, PH.D., LL.D. Revised and 
enlarged by the AUTHOR and THoMAsS S. ADAMS, 
PH.D., MAx QO. LORENZ, PH.D., ALLYN A. 
Younc, PH.D. 


HISTORY OF ECONOMIC THOUGHT 
By Lewis T. HANEY. 


BUSINESS ORGANIZATION AND COMBINATION 
By Lewis T. HANEY. 


PROBLEMS OF CHILD WELFARE 
By GEORGE B. MANGOLD, PH.D. 


THE NEW AMERICAN GOVERNMENT 
By JAMES T. YOUNG. 


OUTLINES OF SOCIOLOGY 


By FRANK W. BLACKMAR, PH.D., and JOHN LEwIs 
GILLIN, PH.D. 





OUTLINES 
OF SOCIOLOGY 


BY 


FRANK W. BLACKMAR, Pu.D. 


PROFESSOR OF SOCIOLOGY AND ECONOMICS 
IN THE’ UNIVERSITY OF KANSAS 


AND 


JOHN LEWIS GILLIN, Pu.D. 


ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR OF SOCIOLOGY 
IN THE UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN 


New Work 
THE MACMILLAN COMPANY 


1915 


All rights reserved 


CopyRIGHT, 1905 AND 1915, 


By THE MACMILLAN COMPANY. 





Set up and electrotyped. Published June, rors. 


Norwood Wress 
J. 8. Cushing Co. — Berwick & Smith Co. 
Norwood, Mass., U.S.A. 


Saci ology 


\a)5 REMOTE STORAGE 


PREBPACE 


WitH the growing interest in sociology both on the part of 
students in the colleges and universities and on the part of an 
increasing number of other people organized into study clubs 
there is need of a comprehensive outline of the subject. More- 
over, the rapid growth of the subject makes a new book impera- 
tive every few years in order that students may keep up with 
the development. This book is intended to meet the require- 
ments of teachers of the subject in the colleges and universities 
and also to provide a comprehensive survey of the field for the 
general reader as well as for the large number of clubs interested 
in the study of social questions of vital interest. 

The writers have kept constantly in mind the teacher. The 
book is divided into parts, each of which deals with a particular 
aspect of the subject, thus assisting the instructor in the some- 
times difficult task of making clear the main divisions of the 
subject. Thus, Part I defines the subject and points out the 
practical purpose of its study ; Part II outlines the way in which 
; some of the more important social ideas and institutions have 
- come to be what they are; Part III and Part IV attempt to pre- 
- sent an analysis of society from the genetic point of view, the 
former from the standpoint of the working of unconscious forces, 
the latter with reference to the part played by social ideals in 
social development; Part V deals with social pathology, a phase 
of social life which cannot well be omitted if the student is to 
be given an adequate conception of the nature of society; Part 
_ VI is an attempt to vitalize the study of sociology by giving the 
student an opportunity to make a first hand study of society and 
_ to supply a few simple principles to guide him in the making of 
» such a study; Part VII rounds out the beginner’s conception 
of the subject by briefly setting forth the essential differences 
_ between social philosophy and social science in the endeavor 

Vv 


23D, cy 42 


CB zat fed ae Za 


vi PREFACE 


to give the student a clear conception of the nature of social 
science and an acquaintance with the names of those who have 
had a part in its creation. The division of the book into parts 
has the added advantage that certain parts, for example, the 
last two Parts, may be omitted in a course where time will not 
permit covering the whole book. 

It is hoped that the questions and exercises at the end of 
each chapter will serve to quicken the student’s interest in the 
subject, as well as serve as a convenient means whereby the 
instructor may stimulate fruitful discussions in class. The ques- 
tions are framed with the purpose of calling forth independent 
thinking. In many cases some additional reading, as well as 
independent thought, will be required. The references at the 
end of each chapter are not offered as a complete bibliography 
on the subject, but are intended to indicate supplementary read- 
ing for both the teacher and the interested student. 

The authors are under special obligations to Professor Ely, 
the editor of the Series, and to Professor Ross, both of whom 
have read the book in manuscript and have given unstintedly 
of their time and thought in making many valuable criticisms 
and suggestions. 


CHAPTER 


I. 
4 & 
ITI. 


II. 


CONTENTS 


PART ONE 

THE NATURE AND IMPORT OF SOCIOLOGY 
PAGE 

SocIAL LIFE IN GENERAL . , : - : y 3 
DEFINITION AND SCOPE OF SOCIOLOGY ‘ 5 AS 
THE PURPOSE AND METHOD OF SOCIOLOGY : i win BS 

PART TWO 

SOCIAL EVOLUTION 

SOCIAL ORIGINS . é ; ‘ : : : : Attar gd 
THE LAND AND ITs PEOPLE. f l . : ¥ ek. Og 
SocIAL ACTIVITIES : 4 i m c x oy an te 
SOCIAL ORGANIZATION . 4 2 i A 4 ‘ Nie AS 
ORGANIZATION AND LIFE OF THE FAMILY . ts any Pe 
DISORGANIZATION OF THE MODERN FAMILY : ‘ . 153 
ORIGIN AND DEVELOPMENT OF THE STATE. i ‘ Sheet Wi 
THEORY AND FUNCTION OF THE STATE E . ‘ MONG 1 54 
THE SOCIAL PHASES OF PRODUCTION AND CONSUMPTION 


OF WEALTH . i ‘ ; : ! é : Pe Be 
EXCHANGE AS A SOCIAL FUNCTION . ‘ “ : e206 
THE EVOLUTION OF ETHICS . , : : , . AOR 
THE SOCIAL ORIGIN OF RELIGION ‘ ; i Ao! 
THE DEVELOPMENT OF RELIGION : : : ‘ reek 


PART THREE 


SOCIALIZATION AND SOCIAL CONTROL 


PROCESSES OF SOCIALIZATION ; is P ; swe ad 
SOCIAL FORCES ; ‘ : . A ‘ ; : ay + 


vii 


viii CONTENTS 
CHAPTER 
III. Socrat Laws 
IV. THE SocraAL MIND . 
V. PSYCHICAL ACTIVITIES 
VI. SocrtaL CONTROL 
PART FOUR 
SOCIAL IDEALS AND SOCIAL CONTROL 
I. THE AIMS OF SOCIETY 
Il. IDEALS OF GOVERNMENT. 
III. CONTROL BY FORCE. 
IV. THE EDUCATIONAL METHOD . 
V. SocraAL INEQUALITIES 
VI. THE IDEAL OF JUSTICE 
VII. ESTIMATION OF PROGRESS 
PART FIVE 
SOCIAL PATHOLOGY 
I.. THE NATURE OF SOCIAL PATHOLOGY 
isis POVERTY: ITS CAUSES AND REMEDIES . 
TI’ CHARITIES AND CHARITY ORGANIZATION 
IV. Crime: ITs CAUSES AND PREVENTION . 
V. SocriAL DEGENERATION 
VI. THE ADMINISTRATION OF CHARITABLE AND CORRECTIONAL 
AFFAIRS 
PART SIX 
METHODS OF SOCIAL INVESTIGATION 
J. THE FIELD OF INVESTIGATION 
II. MerETHODS OF INVESTIGATION . 
PART SEVEN 
THE HISTORY OF SOCIOLOGY 
I. SocitaL PHILOSOPHY 


II. 


THE SCIENCE OF SOCIETY 


PAGE 


316 
329 
338 
349 


373 
379 
388 
393 
399 
408 
414 


425 
435 
457 
478 
499 


513 


523 
529 


541 
552 


PART ONE 


HE TNASUREVAND IMPOR TO OR 
SUCIOLOGY: 


aay 


year) ‘ TD tee 
He Nake o 


4: ; *\ war a) 
Tk Wee Mae aden 


1 
' 


‘ @ rm ; Tiare ath j -? & ” my é 
era a 2 Ee 
ARTE ET BY : anh 
Se ee Sk oof | fe 
uaa ee oi oe OM) ey a ’ Lily, 


We 





OUTLINES OF SOCIOLOGY 


CHAPTER I 
THE SOCIAL LIFE IN GENERAL 


Dependence of the Individual. — How dependent is the in- 
dividual upon others, in spite of the fact that he often assumes 
that he can do as he pleases. He feels that his will is free to 
choose his course. So strong is this feeling of self-sufficiency 
that in moments when it most completely masters him he acts 
with a total disregard of the facts of his material environment 
and of the thoughts and feelings of his fellows. If physical 
material is in his way, he has but to remove it, his success being 
measured by his power to do so. If his fellows attempt to 
thwart his plans, he has but to thrust them aside and his pur- 
pose is accomplished. This ever present, persistent, self- 
assertive ego of man is constantly reminding him that he alone 
is to be consulted about his course of action. He considers, 
“Shall I do this or shall I do that? ” or ‘I will do this,” or 
“This is the most profitable for me,” just as if he had the final 
settlement of the affairs of life which concern him. Yet the 
fact is that in the complex social life of our day his actions, — 
indeed, even his thoughts and feelings, — are influenced in large 
measure by a social life which surrounds him like an atmos- 
phere. This conquering bent of man’s nature, developed 
through long-continued race habits of conquest over both the 
material world, the world of savage beasts and of more savage 
men, deceives man by making him believe at times what is 
only partly true. It is true to a degree that man can bend 
things to his will. Human achievement is marked by his 
ability to do so to a more remarkable degree than any other 
animal. However, the converse is also true, that no man 

3 


4 OUTLINES OF SOCIOLOGY 


really acts independently of the influences of his fellow men.! 
Everywhere there is a social life setting limitations and pre- 
dominatingly influencing individual action. In government, 
in religion, in industry, in education, in family association — 
in everything that builds up modern life, men are codperating. 
They work together, combine, and organize for specific pur- 
poses, so that no man lives to himself. It is this unity of effort 
that makes society. 

Forms of Social Coéperation. — If an individual considers 
that he is managing his own business, regardless of others, let 
him pause to think of the people upon whom he is immediately 
dependent for the conduct of his business. If he claims to be 
an independent farmer, still he depends upon the miner, the 
manufacturer, the merchant, and the transporter, for his im- 
plements. He depends upon the coéperation of his fellow 
citizens for the protection of home and property, for the edu- 
cation of his children, for the building of roads, and the es- 
tablishment of social order. His household furnishings and 
his clothing largely come from the toil of others. His whole 
surplus wealth is dependent upon the consumption of his prod- 
ucts by others. 

If a man assume that religion, the most sacred of all motives, 
is his individual affair, still we find him associating with his 
fellows to build a church for worship and employing a teacher 
paid by the membership. More than this, he meets with his 
fellows to worship and subscribes to a creed and ritual not es- 
tablished by himself but by thousands of his predecessors, 
directly or indirectly, and over which he has little individual 
control. 

If he says, ‘‘I will educate myself,” he begins by reading 
books written by others, containing the accumulated knowl- 
edge of centuries, or he enters a school supported by the con- 
tributions of thousands of his fellow men. The determination, 
the will, the ego, in this counts for much, but it is hedged in 
on all sides by the social life. 

If a western farmer owes a man in Chicago for goods, he does 


1 Cooley, Social Organization, Chaps. I and II. 
Ross, Social Psychology, pp. 4, 11. 
Baldwin, The Individual and Society, Chaps. I and II. For a contrary view 
see Fite, Individualism, pp. 3-6, 156-158, 233-235. 


THE SOCIAL LIFE IN GENERAL 5 


not take a back-load of corn or beef, the products of his toil, 
and walk to Chicago, but he sells his corn and his cattle to 
others and accepts money made by the combined action of 
thousands. If he wishes to pay a bill in Chicago, he might 
board a train made and operated by others, and carry the gold 
to Chicago, but he accepts the alternative and goes to a bank 
conducted by the codperative work of others, buys exchange, 
and sends his money by an express company or by the postal 
service, two evidences of social coéperation. So that, turn 
whichever way he will, the ego finds another superior ego over 
which he has httle personal control. Assuming that he is 
independent, he goes about doing as others do, thinking what 
others think, codperating with them consciously and uncon- 
sciously in the work of life, frequently yielding to the will, or 
obeying the command of a general psychic force called society. 
He cannot escape it, except by searching in ships made by 
others for an uninhabited island of the sea, there to spend 
the remainder of his threescore years and ten, alone, until he 
perish and his works with him. 

Forms of Society. — In considering any material body we 
recognize it by its physical properties and, if living, by its 
activities. For example, so familiar are we with the form and 
life of the tree or the horse that we require no description to 
separate it from other organisms. Recognition of the social 
body is more difficult; for while we realize that there is some- 
thing called ‘‘ society,” it is not easy to determine its char- 
acteristic marks or to define its activities. But this is essential 
before we can have any scientific notion of society. How then 
shall we recognize society when we see it? Will it be by its 
form or its function, or both, or is society merely an abstract 
generic term used to give collective expression to a large number 
of diverse things which men do in common? 

(a) The Political Life. — We shall find on examination that 
the most prominent characteristics of an organized group of 
people are present in the politically organized body. The 
institutions of the State afford a typical example of all social 
institutions. Executive, legislative, and judicial bodies, ful- 
filling the chief functions of political control, and each repre- 
senting a large number of individuals, bring together all people 
within a given territory, uniting them into an interdependent 


6 OUTLINES OF SOCIOLOGY 


membership for the purposes of protection, justice, and prog- 
ress. From township trustee, policeman, and police judge, 
to senate, chief executive, and chief justice of the supreme 
bench we find a group of men with well-defined relations, 
representing and carrying out the will of the people, not the 
will of any single person. There is a regularity in which they 
act and a universality of organization which is conclusive evi- 
dence that the whole community is united with definite bonds 
and that its parts are interdependent. 

(6) The Economic Life. — From the foundation of human 
society man has codperated with his fellows in obtaining’ food, 
shelter, and material comfort. This process is called the 
economic life. Perhaps there is no clearer evidence of the co- 
operative existence of society than in the organized efforts of 
man to satisfy his material wants. Here are groups of men 
engaged in agriculture supporting other groups, and in turn 
being supported by them. Here are giant corporations for the 
manufacture of material goods; here are great organizations 
for the transport of goods and men, and other great organiza- 
tions for trade, commerce, and banking. Attendant upon these 
and growing out of them, are the labor organizations for the 
conservation and promotion of the common interests of the groups 
of wage earners. How helpless is the individual who strives 
alone, and how increasingly helpless as industrial organization 
continues to improve! The man out of bread and out of work 
quickly realizes how important is the organization of industrial 
life and the dependence of group on group as well as of the in- 
dividual on the whole, 

(c) Voluntary Associations. — If we take another view of the 
collective operations of men, we shall see large numbers forming 
themselves in voluntary associations for specific purposes. These 
organizations contribute to the general scheme of society 
and add particular lines of activity. Such are church societies, 
fraternal orders, benevolent and charitable associations, and 
social clubs. They bear less distinct relations to the whole mass 
than do the political groups, and unite only a part of the whole 
general group. Yet they have special services to perform and 
represent a large body of people working, thinking, and toiling in 
concert. 

(d) Educational Association. — There are educational processes 


THE SOCIAL LIFE IN GENERAL 7 


which have much to do with the well-being and progress of 
humanity. Our public school system from the primary grade 
to the university represents another phase of the organic reality 
of society. This system aims to educate the child, not as a 
separate, independent individual, but as a member of society. 
It is supported by all propertied citizens, and in most instances 
by all who are not paupers. There are private schools of 
large foundations managed by voluntary associations, whose 
influences are less universal than the public schools but are 
essential to the organized community, and these schools bear 
well-sustained relations to the whole. There are scientific 
societies whose ultimate purpose is the extension of human wel- 
fare, which are, however, great forces as well in social control for 
social unity. These, and all educational institutions, give form 
and solidarity to society, help it to consider present needs, and to 
think and plan for future development. 

(e) Methods of Communication. — Closely allied to education, 
political, religious, economic, and the purely social institutions, 
supporting and strengthening them all, are our various methods 
of communication: the postal service, the telephone, and the 
telegraph. These draw individuals closer together and give 
them convincing proof of their daily and hourly interdependence. 
No other phases of modern life have so quickened the activities 
of society and contributed to the oneness of purpose and to the 
common thinking, feeling, and willing together as these. 

(f) The Family— Nor must there be omitted from this 
category the family life, the center from which flow many impulses 
of social life. Here is the vital institution for the propagation 
and perpetuation of the race. Genetically it is the whole social 
world in epitome evincing some of the elements of control, of 
industry, of education, of religion, and of benevolence. It has 
had its historical growth and is bound together by the most 
exact and rigid rules of social order. It is the most complete 
and perfectly organized group, the hearth at which are forged 
the strongest sympathies and the most finely tempered im- 
pulses of life. It is the center of the larger brotherhood of 
humanity. 

The Nature of Society. — All these groups are forms or mani- 
festations of society, but are they society itself? They are 

1See Chap. V, Part IT, 


8 OUTLINES OF SOCIOLOGY 


various organizations showing us somewhat of the morphology of 
society, but they are only the body in which society incarnates 
itself. As biology studies life in all its forms in order to find 
out what the principle of life is, and to make practical use of that 
knowledge, as the science of religion studies the manifestations 
of religion in every rite and ceremony, every creed, every trace 
of devotional or controversial literature among all the peoples of 
the earth, so sociology in order to understand society, studies 
that spirit which manifests itself in political, economic, re- 
ligious, educational, cultural, and domestic organization; in 
public and private corporations, in customs and costumes, in 
imitations and oppositions, — briefly, in all the multitudinous 
ways in which men and women living in social relations manifest 
their social attitudes. Society therefore may be said to be 
humanity, or any certain part of it, in its social relations. If 
men have certain definite economic relations with each other, 
we call them an industrial or economic society. If their relations 
are political in nature, we call the group a political society. If 
the motives of their relations are religious, we call the group a 
religious society. Or, if we think of the extension of relationship 
to all men, we call it a world society. Soctety then may be defined 
as any group of sentient beings who are more or less alike, who 
recognize more or less clearly that fact, and who have recognized 
common interests in their social relationships? 

So there is society and there are societies. The two terms 
belong to different categories. The one is a general term, the 
other a special. The one denotes the most general aspects of all 
kinds of societies, the necessary attributes of any society, the 
other suggests that there are various organizations belonging 
to this genus society which differ from each other in certain 
particulars. For example, the term “society ” denotes all 


1Cf. Ellwood, Sociology and Modern Social Problems, pp. 7-9. For a more 
complete discussion see the same author, Sociology in its Psychological Aspects, 
pp. 9-15. Professor Ellwood has well emphasized the mental interrelation which 
produces a society, but he seems to be uncertain in both these books as to whether 
society is ‘‘association”’ or a group of individuals associating for certain reasons of 
mutual interdependence. It seems clear to the present writer that it is impossible 
to substitute the term “‘association” for ‘‘society,”’ as against both Professor Small 
and Professor Ellwood, The term “association” describes the action of a society, 
but a society is certainly a group of beings — who are associating. Two things are 
necessary, — sentient beings and association. 

2 Cf. Giddings, Descriptive and Historical Sociology, p. 9. 


THE SOCIAL LIFE IN GENERAL 9 


kinds of groups which are based on any kind of social interests ; 
the other term, “ societies,” at once implies that an adjective 
is needed to convey to the mind a definite idea of what is meant. 
The same difference is suggested by the contrast between the 
term “society” and “a society.” The term “society ” 
therefore connotes in the most general way men in any kind of 
associative relations. 

Types of Societies. — Societies may be classified in various 
ways. Basing them upon their most significant characteristics, 
the psycho-social, Giddings has suggested eight different kinds of 
human societies. The following is an epitome of these eight 
types, with an indication of the social bonds which create 
them, and with concrete examples of each type: 


1. Broadest groupings — animal and human. 
2. Human societies. 
(a) Ethnic — based on kinship. 
(b) Civil — based on propingquity. 
3. Groupings more instructive for the sociologist. 
(a) Instinctive. 
(6) Rational. 

These two general types combined in varying degrees give us the 
following classification : 
1. Sympathetic — blood relatives, e.g., the clan of an 

ethnic tribe. 

2. Congenial —like spirits, e.g., Pilgrim Fathers, 


a an Latter-Day Saints, Amana Society. 
N 3. Approbational — lawless elements drawn together 
ATURAL ; : , he 
by economic opportunity, e.g., frontier mining 
camps. A general approbation of qualities and 
conduct practically the only social bond. 
4. Despotic— combination of elements of unequal 
strength. Social bonds, despotic power and 
MoRE OR servile, fear-inspired obedience, e.g., Norman 
LESS ARTI- England immediately following Conquest, or the 
FICIAL RE- South in early Reconstruction days. 
SULT OF 5. Authoritative — despotic power long enough estab- 
THOUGHT lished to be identified with tradition and religion. 
ABOUT Social bond, reverence for authority. Exam- 
SOCIAL ples: England of the Tudor and Early Stuart 
ORDER periods; France of Louis XIV; Russia from 


days of Peter the Great up to a recent 
period. 


fe) OUTLINES OF SOCIOLOGY 


6. Conspirital — results of the disintegration of a 
preéxisting social order. Adventurers become 
the leaders by means of bribery, patronage, and 
special privileges. Social bond, intrigue and con- 
spiracy. Examples: Italy of the time of Dante; 
France of the Reign of Terror (to a less degree). 

7. Contractual — result of perception of the utility 


MoRE OR of association, leading to the conscious better- 
LESS ARTI- ment of the general welfare. Social bond, a 
FICIAL RE- covenant or contract. Examples: League of the 
SULT OF Iroquois; Achzan League of Greece; American 
THOUGHT Confederation; Federal Union; Confederate 
ABOUT States of America; Australian Commonwealth; 
SOCIAL Dominion of Canada. 

ORDER 8. Idealistic — result of a population collectively re- 


sponding to great ideals and thus forming a 
society. Social bonds, mutual understanding, 
confidence, fidelity, and unselfish spirit of social 
service. Examples: U. S. of America (to a 
degree) ; some of our states; the Sylvania Asso- 
ciation; the Theosophical Society at Point 
Loma, California. 


Complexity of the Social Order. — Is it possible in this com- 
plexity of the social order to discover any constant social forces 
working for the building of the social structure? Can we 
formulate general laws which operate for the control of society? 
Itis the study of this complex social order that constitutes the chief 
aim of the science of society. There are social phenomena more 
or less frequently recurring, and movements more or less regular 
which admit of study and classification. There must be some 
order in this process of society building. It could not all be 
referred to accident. Through it all runs a constant purpose, a 
social trend. There are laws controlling the movement of 
human society; there are forces in continual action impelling 
it forward in well-defined lines; there is a mass of phenomena 
which can be reduced to classification. 

Need of Scientific Study.— Common as are the facts of 
society which we observe about us, the knowledge of their real 
natures and their reduction to system and order are difficult 
tasks. If there are forces at work, the laws controlling and 
limiting their action are not readily discovered. But there 


THE SOCIAL LIFE IN GENERAL II 


are many reasons why it is essential to human welfare that a sys- 
tematic study of society be encouraged. First, because the social 
life of man has been less carefully studied than other natural 
phenomena. It represents the class of phenomena last to be 
considered. Again, there is nothing which concerns human 
welfare more than the study of man in his social relations. The 
scientific and practical mastery of the lower forms of nature 
is in comparison far more advanced. We know much con- 
cerning the external world and its adaptation to our service. We 
have learned to adjust ourselves to the conditions of our physical 
environment whenever it is impossible to change the environ- 
ment. But scientific knowledge of how men have learned to 
live together in harmony, each seeking his own interest, is very 
difficult to acquire. The art of social life is the most difficult 
of all arts to master and to comprehend. Witness the long lists 
of wars of tribes, nations, and races, caused by not knowing how 
to settle their social differences properly and justly! Consider 
the long struggle of man with his fellows for survival, a struggle 
continued in the competitive business world where it is a struggle, 
not so much for existence as for wealth. Observe the other 
numerous attempts that have been made in the world for a 
better system of justice. All these examples testify to the diffi- 
culties of social adjustment. 

Formulation of a Science of Society. — Yet when we attempt 
to bring system into our knowledge of human society, we find 
that it is difficult to collect sufficient data to furnish the ground- 
work of science. ‘There is not a sufficient number of generaliza- 
tions proven to be universally true upon which might be estab- 
lished readily a well-defined body of principles of sociology. The 
laws that control society and the forces that operate it are not 
sufficiently understood to make the science of sociology easily 
determined or quickly mastered. Yet it is the task of sociology 
to compass within well-defined bounds a mass of social knowl- 
edge, to classify it, showing its order and logical sequence, to 
discover the forces that generate and move society and to deter- 
mine and define the laws that controlit. Its duty as a science is 
not done if it fails to point out the extent and manner in which 
society can be forced into certain lines of development or progress 
by the combined choice and action of mankind. 


12 OUTLINES OF SOCIOLOGY 


REFERENCES 


Cootry, CHartes H. Human Nature and the Social Order, Chaps. V, VI; 
Social Organization, Chaps. I, IT. 

ELLWwoop, CHARLES A. Psychological Aspects of Sociology, pp. 9-15. 

Ery, R. T. The Evolution of Industrial Society, pp. 3-110. 

Grippincs, F. H. Principles of Sociology, pp. 3-20; Descriptive and His- 
torical Sociology, Chaps. II, III. 

SMALL, ALBION W., and VINCENT, GEORGE E. Introduction to the Study of 
Soctety, pp. 15-20. 

Warp, Lester F. Dynamic Sociology, ‘‘ Introduction.” 


QUESTIONS AND EXERCISES 


1. Compare Cooley’s and Fite’s contentions and state whether you can 
find any common ground. 

2. Analyze the respective parts played by your individuality and by the 
various social influences around you in your determination to get an educa- 
tion. 

3. Name all the characteristics which the following groups have in com- 
mon: The state in which you live; a bank; a college; a sewing society; a 
dancing party; a political party; a church; a lodge; a railway company. 

4. Discuss the following definitions of society: ‘“‘The word society is 
used scientifically to designate the reciprocal relations between individuals.” 
— Etitwoop, Sociology and Modern Social Problems, p. 7. 

“The concept here outlined is that of society as a continuing adaptation, 
with instinctive and other physiological, subconscious processes at its 
beginning, and a self-conscious and self-determining mind, a group mind 
in the only real sense of the term, at its apex.’”’ — Davis, Psychological 
Interpretations, p. 79. 

5. Criticize Giddings’s classification of societies given in his Descriptive 
and Historical Sociology, in the light of his exposition of the stages in the 
evolution of society in his Elements, pp. 231-330. 

6. Classify according to Giddings’s scheme the following groups: The 
James gang of outlaws; the German Confederation; Japan of to-day; the 
Christian Science Church; the Amana communistic society; a national 
bank; England of to-day. 


CHAPTER II 


DEFINITION AND SCOPE OF SOCIOLOGY 


Sociology Defined. — Definitions of sociology are many. 
While it would be hardly correct to say that there are as 
many as there are sociologists, it is safe to say that they are 
as numerous as the various points of view of the respective 
groups of sociologists. 

Generally, sociologists, instead of giving a formal definition 
of sociology, have entered into an extended discussion of its 
nature. Some, however, have used a colorless definition like 
“ Sociology is the science of society,” ! or “‘ the scientific study 
of society,” ? or “‘ the science of social phenomena.” ? Others, 
using more words, add but little, as for example, ‘‘ Sociology is 
the name applied to a somewhat inchoate mass of materials 
which embodies our knowledge about society.” * Other defi- 
nitions somewhat more definite, yet unsatisfactory in many 
ways, are, ‘‘ the science of social process ” ® and “ the science of 
social relation.” ® Better than these are, “‘ Sociology is the study 
of men considered as affecting and as affected by association,” ’ 
or, “the study of human association, including whatever con- 
duces to it or modifies it.” ® Of the formal definitions that have 
been given by scientific men, none is more comprehensive than 
that of Professor Giddings, which follows: ‘‘ Sociology is an 
attempt to account for the origin, growth, structure, and activi- 
ties of society by the operation of physical, vital, and psychical 
causes working together in a process of evolution.” ° While it 


1 Ward, Popular Science Monthly, June, 1902, p. 113. 
2 Giddings, Inductive Sociology, p. 9. 

3 Ross, Foundations of Sociology, p. 6. 

4 Fairbanks, Introduction to Sociology, p. 1. 

5 Small, General Sociology, p. 35. 

8 Wright, Practical Sociology, p. I. 

7Small, op. cit., p. 23. 

8 Dealey and Ward, Text Book of Sociology, p. 2. 

3 Principles of Sociology, p. 8. 


13 


14 OUTLINES OF SOCIOLOGY 


is difficult to give a brief comprehensive definition of sociology 
that will prove entirely satisfactory through all of the changes 
of a developing science, Professor Giddings’s definition is of great 
service to one who wishes a clear understanding and a precise 
view of the nature and purposes of the science. An adequate 
knowledge of the true nature and import of sociology, however, 
may be better obtained by a careful consideration of the underly- 
ing principles of the science, than by an attempt to follow any 
carefully formulated definition. Sociology treats of the phenomena 
of society arising from the association of mankind. It includes a 
body of classified knowledge relating to society and a number of 
principles and laws. It investigates causes and effects, discovers 
social forces, and formulates laws of control, or rules of action. 

Sociology Treats of the Origin of Society. — It is possible to 
have a science of society without going back to its origin, yet 
there are certain advantages in studying, as far as we may, so- 
ciety in its primitive state. This is the rule in all scientific in- 
vestigations, that complex forms are traced to simpler ones in 
order to discover laws and principles. Society to-day is so com- 
plex that the laws applying to it are high generalizations not 
easily discovered, while the simple movements of society in its 
earlier forms reveal the cause and effect of social action. 

Just as the botanist includes in the description of a plant the 
nature of its development from the seed and traces the law of 
growth from the beginning, so the sociologist follows the growth 
of society from its primitive conditions. Biology’s great ad- 
vances began with Darwin’s Origin of Species, a work charac- 
terized by the use of what has come to be known as the “ genetic 
method,” that is, the study of biological origins. So, sociology 
is given a sound basis by the study of the primitive social insti- 
tutions and processes. Many present-day social institutions 
and processes cannot be understood without a knowledge of those 
ancient ones from which they have developed. Therefore 
sociology begins with a study of social origins. 

Sociology Treats of the Growth of Society. — Beginning with 
a simple association, society has expanded or developed into a 
highly complex organization. Its growth is recognized by the 
addition of new forms and new functions and increased energy ; 
by the greater systemization of its parts and the greater precision 
of its recurring actions. To show the gradual unfolding of 


DEFINITION AND SCOPE OF SOCIOLOGY 15 


society, or as it is usually termed, “the building of society,” 
how it developed from primitive forms to the forms found in 
highly civilized societies, is one of the tasks of sociology. By 
some this process has been called “social evolution.” In 
the beginning of social life society was homogeneous. It had 
not become highly differentiated into groups with specialized 
functions and complex institutions. As time went on groups of 
individuals became interdependent. The parts of the whole 
mass became segregated and a specific function or service was 
given to each part. ‘These parts gradually became more closely 
related and interdependent. From a state of simplicity, society 
grew more complex; it became heterogeneous. At first a mass 
or horde of people driven about by the influence of circumstances, 
following each other through imitation or led by their own in- 
definite desires, gradually took up new activities which were per- 
formed by separate individuals. This multiplication of services 
and duties in time brought about a high state of social complexity. 

Social Activities. — But while historic development is of 
much value as a groundwork of sociology, giving the student a 
broad conception of society as well as instructing him in the 
elemental points of social order, nevertheless, the real work of 
the science is with the forms and activities of a completed 
society. By a completed society we understand one that has 
all the ordinary activities and organization necessary to make an 
independent social body. What men are doing in concert or 
in groups concerns the student more than how they began to 
work together, so that the social activities present the formal 
basis of the science. The operations of the various departments 
of government, the work of educational institutions, of the 
church, of social and philanthropic groups, as well as the or- 
ganized industrial groups, must come under the close scrutiny of 
the student. 

Social Forms. — It is quite impossible, however, to treat of 
social activities without treating specifically of the structure of 
society. In all development of social groups the function or 
the action always precedes the formal organization. The United 
States Senate, for example, if considered as to its structure, 
would be treated as an organization composed of a group of 
individuals chosen in a specific way for a definite purpose. 
These individuals meeting together complete their own organiza- 


16 OUTLINES OF SOCIOLOGY 


tion by choosing various officers. Thus far we have nothing but 
the structure of a group in society. If we consider what the 
senate does, its various duties, services, and privileges, as a rep- 
resentative body, we shall have the sociological function of an 
organic group of society. If we were to consider in detail each 
separate act of the senate, we should have its history. In this 
case we should be outside of the field of sociology. 

Organic Conception of Society.— The early writers on 
sociology used many terms borrowed from physics and biology. 
It was observed that society represented various interrelated 
parts more or less dependent upon one another. Men saw that 
the social groups in their activity resembled to a certain exte 
the activities of the individual. Hence it happened that out of 
these analogies the new science received its principal terms of 
expression. As every new branch of knowledge must have an 
independent terminology, or else be expressed in the terms of 
other sciences, the writer of a new science must either coin new 
words, or put new meaning into old words. In the early history 
of sociology those sociologists who attempted to put new meaning 
into old words succeeded better in making a clear exposition of 
their science than those who attempted to coin a new terminol- 
ogy.! 

They saw first that there was an analogy between the organic 
structure of a biological body and the structure of society. As 
a result they wrote about the social organism, but the analogies 
were carried so far by some writers that they assumed identity 
of structure between the physical and social bodies. This led 
to a revolt against what is known as “ biological sociology.” 
In this case, as in many others, the critics were as far away from 
a judicially balanced statement as were those criticized for 
their extreme assumptions. There is a social organism, having 
some analogies to the physical organism, but when we use 
the word ‘organism ”’ in its application to society, it has a 


1Tf possible, one should read Spencer’s essay on ‘‘The Social Organism,” in Es- 
says, edition of 1891, and Lester F. Ward’s criticism in his Outlines of Sociology, 
pp. 49-63. Cf. Ross, Foundations of Sociology, p. 3; Giddings, Principles of So- 
ciology, Pp. 420. 

2See Schaeffle, Bau und Leben des socialen Koerpers, passim; Lilienfeld, Zur 
Vertheidigung des organischen Methods in der Sociologie (1898). This conception 
is also at the basis of the social theories of Novicow and his French colleagues in 
L’Institut internationale de Sociologie. 


DEFINITION AND SCOPE OF SOCIOLOGY 17 


somewhat different meaning than when applied to a_ physical 
body. With that understanding and in the absence of terms 
of wide acceptance among sociologists, it is sometimes helpful 
to use physical and biological terms to express the principles of 
a new science of society. 

Comparison of the Biological with the Social Organism. — 
The tree has its roots, trunk, bark, branches, leaves, flowers, and 
fruit. Each one of these parts is dependent upon the others for 
its existence. The activities of this physical organism are closely 
related. They are made up of groups of physical and chemical 
actions. The social organism is made up of groups of individuals 
more or less dependent for their existence upon one another. 
They perform certain reciprocal services which are essential 
to their respective existences. The analogy might be carried 
out much farther to show that the bioplast in the cell of the 
tree is living an independent individual existence similar to the 
individual in the social group. It might be shown that one 
group of bioplasts were building leaves, while another were 
making roots, and another the bark of the tree. So it might be 
shown that these correspond to groups of individuals, some 
working in one department of social life and some in another. 
But such extended comparisons generally lead to misconcep- 
tions. The characteristic work of the social organism is a 
psychical element which is lacking in the biological cell. The 
predominance of conscious effort in human society forever de- 
stroys the idea of making sociology merely a part of biological 
science. With this understanding of the phrase there is no harm, 
therefore, in using the term “‘ social organism.” It is not neces- 
sary to think of the tree or the human body, or any other organic 
structure, but to think of a social organism different from all of 
these. The only requisite is to assume that society is made up of 
interdependent individuals and groups more or less closely con- 
nected with one another. The psychic element in the social 
body makes it something more than an individual organism — 
it makes it an organization. Moreover, each individual and 
component group of society has its own life purpose to subserve, 
while the biological cell seems to live and function only for the 
organism of which it is a part. 

Sociology Treats of the Forces which Tend to Organize and 
Perpetuate Society. — Wherever there is action or motion there 

c 


18 OUTLINES OF SOCIOLOGY 


must be some force impelling or causing it. Part of the work of 
sociology, then, certainly is a consideration of the forces which 
are in operation in human society. What causes mankind to 
associate in groups? What forces brought about the establish- 
ment of the family and the perpetuation of the family life? 
What are the forces that give rise to the religious group and 
cause people to build churches and carry on religious association ? 
What forces cause people to come together in large cities, to 
organize in industrial groups, to build a state or a nation, and to 
develop a government? In short, what are the forces that are 
working to create and perpetuate the social organization? These 
are questions that must be answered by the sociologist. One of 
the primary purposes of sociology is to discover these forces and 
to trace their operations.! 

Sociology Treats of the Laws Controlling Social Activities. — 
The forces referred to are not irregular and intermittent, or there 
could be no permanent organic development of society. There 
must be a regular order in their activity and certain laws and 
rules of action controlling them. If, for instance, it be consid- 
ered that men are struggling to obtain wealth for the purpose 
of improving their material condition, we have in this struggle 
a positive social force. If we search for any regulating law, we 
shall discover among others that man seeks to obtain the largest 
possible return for the least sacrifice. Likewise, we shall find 
that everywhere there are forces impelling society forward, and 
with a description of these forces must go certain laws, describ- 
ing how these forces operate. One of the specific services of so- 
ciology is to discover these laws and to formulate them. 

Psychic Factors in Social Organization. — While many activ- 
ities tend to create and perpetuate society, none are more prom- 
inent than the psychic forces. There are influences of physical 


1 Professor Hayes contends that the ‘‘social forces’ concept is an error. See 
American Journal of Sociology, Vol. XVI, p. 613 (March, 1ro11). 

Ward looked upon social forces as social causations. His conception of a social 
force, therefore, was a cause which influenced the origin, development, or activity, 
of society. So far as it goes, this conception was a valuable one and cannot be ex- 
plained as an error. However, it would have been better had he used the term ‘‘so- 
cializing forces,’ as this concept conforms to what he actually described. The 
force which is social in its origin arises from the fact of association. It is social energy. 
It is an increment of power arising from two or more persons working together 
harmoniously above that which they would accomplish working separately. It is 
increased utilization of energy caused by group activity. 


DEFINITION AND SCOPE OF SOCIOLOGY 19 


nature that compel men to codperate and combine. There are 
certain physical characteristics of individuals that cause their 
association. But the individual characteristics which arise from 
the psychical nature of the associational process are among the 
chief causes of the creation of human society. All society repre- 
sents the “ feeling, thinking, and willing together ”’ of people, 
and these elements are the most constant and permanent found 
in society. While the study of biology may come to the support 
of sociology in very many ways, social psychology is more than 
an analogy —it is a distinct branch of the science. After 
all, the strongest currents that draw society together when 
followed to their origin are psychical. 

Sociology is Both Dynamic and Static. — These terms are 
borrowed from mechanics and in a measure have the same 
meaning in sociology as in mechanics. However, the meaning 
of these terms in sociology is modified to suit the requirements of 
a science dealing with human beings with will power as against 
a science dealing with inanimate matter. Dynamic sociology re- 
fers in general to development or progress while static refers to 
relationship. We should have the basis of the latter if we were 
to take an instantaneous view of all society with its various co- 
relationships in regard to structure or activity. If now we 
could consider society moving forward and its various relation- 
ships changing at each successive stage, we should have the 
dynamic conception. In the static conception the comparison 
of relationships might be referred to some ideal standard which 
would lead us to an ethical basis of society. Some writers, 
carrying over into sociology the terminology of physics, have 
introduced the terms “ social kinetics’ and “ social statics” as 
subdivisions of social dynamics.! This terminology, however, as 
in the use of biological terms in sociology, is helpful only if clearly 
recognized as borrowed and not as exactly fitting social phe- 
nomena unless the terms are redefined. At the most they only 
serve to call attention to two different ways of looking at social 
phenomena. For, if we consider society at all, it is always 
developing or changing. Only for an instant do relationships 
continue until they are suddenly changed into new relationships 
by the process of social development. This constant changing 


¢ 


1 For an incisive criticism of the general use of the terms ‘“‘social statics” and 
‘social dynamics’”’ see Giddings, Principles of Sociology (1900), pp. 56-60. 


20 OUTLINES OF SOCIOLOGY 


of society enables us to establish general laws of social order, 
but not to determine a permanent status of society. Therefore, 
social statics would give us a picture of society at consecutive 
stages of its development, but considered together, this series 
of snap shots would be a moving picture of social develop- 
ment, that is, of social dynamics! Therefore it seems better 
to speak of social dynamics, and then subdivide it into 
social statics and social kinetics, the former dealing with 
social movements which are not changing in rate or direction, 
and the latter with those which change in rate or direction or 
both. 

The Cosmic and the Ethical Processes of Society. — Man is a 
part of the universe, and its laws also bear upon and move him. 
He is influenced by physical and mechanical as well as by vital 
forces. Certain writers have attempted to subject him entirely 
to the operation of natural law, giving him no position of inde- 
pendent activity. They have treated him as a particle of the uni- 
. verse being moved here and there by the various forces of nature 
and of his own being. This doctrine came as a reaction against 
the extreme theory of the freedom of the will and as the 
result of the study of natural evolution. Here, as elsewhere, the 
middle ground is safer and nearer the truth than either extreme, 
for while it is recognized that man is controlled by circum- 
stances, his will operates with much power within certain 
limits. 

The struggle for existence in the early history of mankind gives 
unmistakable evidence of man’s common lot with other living 
organisms. As such, on the one hand, he was dependent for 
survival upon physical surroundings and, on the other, upon 
his own effort. At first this struggle was common with the beasts 
of the field. It was a wolfish struggle for life in which egoism 


1For a statement quite similar, yet differing in some details, see Ward, Outlines 
of Soctology, pp. 167-178. For a more complete statement of his position see 
Ward, Pure Sociology, Chaps. VI, X, and XI. Cf. Ellwood, Sociology in its 
Psychological Aspects, pp. 22-27. For a similar conception in Economics, in addi- 
tion to citations by Ward, see Clark, Essentials of Economic Theory, pp. 128-132, 
and Chap. XII. 

Every careful student of sociology will wish to compare these modern concep- 
tions of the static and dynamic in sociology with those of Comte, who not only was 
the first to use the term “sociology,” but first introduced the terms “ social statics ”’ 
and “social dynamics.” See Comte, Positive Philosophy (Martineau), Bk. VI, 
Chaps. V and VI. 


DEFINITION AND SCOPE OF SOCIOLOGY at 


was the predominating characteristic. Then, faintly at the 
beginning were felt the first stirrings of altruism, which grew 
stronger, until now altruistic practices constitute a remarkable 
feature of modern society.1 

The Shifting of the Struggle from a Physical to a Psychical 
Basis. — Meanwhile, as the altruistic principles became ascend- 
ant, the competition between individuals of the same species 
became less severe, and changed from the physical to the intel- 
lectual. At first this change was shown by the individual direct- 
ing his energy to some line of pursuit for the purpose of accumu- 
lating wealth instead of trying to insure survival by destroying 
real or supposed enemies. Each in the attempt to satisfy his 
desires learned to respect the rights of others. Subsequently, 
men learned to codperate with one another in defense and in 
the pursuit of wealth. Gradually the altruistic principle became 
more important and each tended to seek the well-being of the 
group as well as his own safety, believing that his final success 
depended upon it. 

The Survival of the Best. — Through the development of al- 
truistic sentiments and the extension of the codperative practices 
of mankind, the old struggle became modified and the survival 
of the fittest biologically gradually tended to become the survival 
of the best socially. The adaptability of the individual to his 
physical environment was followed by adaptability to his fellow 
men. ‘Those who codperated survived and those who failed to 
codperate perished. One can scarcely estimate the importance of 
this social fact in the development of the humanrace. So it came 
about that those who were most interested in their fellow men 
became known as the best, or, in other words, the best included 
not only the physically and mentally strong, but those of the 
largest codperative power and adaptability to social life. In this 
process of codperative protection the virtuous as well as the 
vigorous survived. It is really nothing more than an extension 
of the idea of the survival of the fittest to social environment, 
that is, to associated human conduct, when once social relation- 
ships were established and survival became dependent not only 
upon fitting into the physical environment, but also fitting into a 
social life in such a way as made codperation possible. Then the 


1 For a classic exposition of the change see Drummond, Ascent of Man, Chaps. 
VI, VII. 


28 OUTLINES OF SOCIOLOGY 


fit was he who could control his impulses in the interests of 
group codperation for purposes of survival.! 

The Telic Process of Society. — As individuals become more 
unified in sentiment, thought, and action there is developed what 
is known as social consciousness, whereby society recognizes its 
own collective power. In its endeavor to use this for the benefit 
of all its members the society or group exercises its telic capaci- 
ties. In other words, the attempt to force society through 
certain channels, to cause it to perform certain acts for the 
general well-being of the social body is a recognition of the con- 
scious effort of society to change or reform itself. To a large 
extent society has been created by the effort of each individual 
to follow his own personal desires as they related to himself 
and his fellows, regardless of any attempt to build the structure 
of society. However, through the influence of social conscious- 
ness there is a realization of social ideals and social aims, as well 
as social defects, and there arises an attempt to remove the de- 
fects and attain to social well-being. 

The Scientific Nature of Sociology. — The foregoing state- 
ments represent partially and in brief the complex material 
with which the science of society must deal. It must consider 
social facts of all kinds and arrange and classify these facts and 
deduce therefrom universal principles or laws relating to the 
growth and activity of human society. The difficulty in bringing 
such diverse groups of phenomena into logical order and giving 
a scientific basis to this order is not easily overcome. Sociology 
is the most difficult of all the social sciences. It deals with 
material which has existed from the beginnings of human asso- 
ciation, but proposes to establish the most general fundamental 
truths concerning its existence. Sociology to-day represents 
the results of studies of different scientists sometimes along 
parallel lines, in other instances along converging lines and in 
still others, along trajectories which have crossed. Each science 
views society from a different standpoint, and sociology will not 
become a compact, well-defined science until sociologists are able 
to generalize the truths discovered by those approaching social 
phenomena from various points of view and to agree more or less 
closely upon the subject matter and the method of treatment. 


1 For the clearest exposition of this point see Kropotkin, Mutual Aid, A Factor 
in Evolution, pp. 1-9. 


DEFINITION AND SCOPE OF SOCIOLOGY 23 


The Place of Sociology among the Social Sciences. — This 
point involves the real nature and scope of sociology. It is 
one that has caused a vast deal of discussion among writers on 
sociology and one which, to a certain extent, is still unsettled. 
There is one group of writers who hold that sociology is a synthe- 
sis of all the social sciences, that the science is fabricated by run- 
ning a thread through all the sciences and stringing them to- 
gether in one mass. Others a little more discriminating hold 
that it is a synthesis or rather an amalgamation of the results 
of other social sciences. Herbert Spencer used the term “ so- 
ciology ”’ as a generic term to include all the other social sciences. 
From a scientific standpoint such a usage might be of value in 
showing that all are branches of one great science called ‘‘ so- 
ciology ”’ just as Spencer included the group of all natural 
sciences relating to life under the term “ biology.” 

But the present writers hold that sociology is one of several 
codrdinating social sciences, the most recent of the group, 
created for a special purpose and standing on an independent 
basis, and that while economics, political science, or ethics may 
deal with specific laws relating to parts of society, sociology deals 
with the general laws which apply to the whole structure.} 

The Differentiation of the Social Sciences. — Let us suppose 
that there are numerous phenomena of human society which 
continually increase with the development of social order. 
Society may go on developing from century to century without 
any scientific attempt to make an orderly arrangement of these 
phenomena. But gradually in the progress of knowledge 
scholars begin to realize that there are facts that constantly recur 
in the social process, for instance, those relating to the moral 
conduct of the individual. As a result there is developed the 
science of ethics. The classification of these phenomena and 
deduction of general laws and principles make this chronologi- 
cally the first of the social sciences. Again, some observe that 
there are other groups of facts relating to government, and that 
there are certain principles involved in the development of social 
control. These facts are collected, classified, the principles 
established, and the science of government is brought forth. 
But there are other social phenomena unclassified and other 
purposes unsatisfied. The processes of obtaining and distribut- 

1Cf. Ellwood, Sociology in its Psychological Aspects, pp. 29-35. 


24 OUTLINES OF SOCIOLOGY 


ing wealth as independent activities may not be involved in 
either ethics or politics. And so a new science called political 
economy is created. These various sciences continue to expand 
in their natural order but there still exist, outside their legiti- 
mate boundaries, other social phenomena unclassified and other 
scientific purposes still unsatisfied. No one yet has shown the 
universal forces at work in the growth, development, and struc- 
ture of society as a whole. The laws of social being have not 
yet been set forth. Political, religious, ethical, and economic 
life have been presented from specific standpoints, but the 
general laws of society, the regularities to be found in man’s 
thoughts, feelings, and purposes when engaged in any of his 
social relationships, whether they be economic, political, ethical, 
or religious, have not been developed. Here, then, is the op- 
portunity for a new science called sociology. It refuses to be 
included in any of the other social sciences, and the other social 
sciences refuse to be grouped under it or to be absorbed or assim- 
ilated by it. From scientific and pedagogical considerations 
it stands alone. It has a definite purpose and a specific body of 
classified knowledge, as well as a body of laws and principles of 
its own.! 

Characteristic Mark of Sociology. — Much of the confusion 
concerning this science has arisen from books whose writers fail 
to acknowledge that science has a subjective as well as an ob- 
jective boundary. It is the aim of a science, the course of 
reasoning and the end to be sought as much as the phenomena 
with which it deals that give it its distinctive mark as a science. 
For instance, botany and chemistry may be dealing with the 
same material in a certain sense, but with entirely different aims. 
However, added to this is the fact that in the scientific sense 
the “ material ”’ with which each deals is quite distinct. The 
chemist is dealing chiefly, though not wholly, with inorganic 
matter and is interested primarily in molecules and atoms of 
different kinds and their relations to each other. The botanist, 
on the other Rand, is interested in molecules and atoms only 
incidentally. He is studying organic matter primarily and is 
concerned with cells and the forms into which they build them- 
selves. Both are studying matter, but quite different aspects 


1See Stuckenburg, Introduction to the Study of Sociology, pp. 75-77, or Carver, 
Sociology and Social Progress, pp. 71-87. 


DEFINITION AND SCOPE OF SOCIOLOGY 25 


thereof, and in widely varied relations. So with sociology, ethics, 
economics, politics, and history; while they all deal with the 
same thing in a broad sense, viz., human society, each is in- 
terested in a different aspect of social relationships. In the 
history of the natural sciences biology was the latest to develop. 
It is a general science, in the sense that it deals with facts and 
principles which underlie all the special sciences concerned with 
various forms of life, such as botany, zodlogy, anthropology, 
etc. While biology rests on all these special biological sciences 
in the sense that they provide facts and principles upon which 
larger generalizations can be made, yet its field is not precisely 
that of any of these special sciences. It deals with fundamentals’ 
common to them all. So with sociology. While economics, 
politics, history, anthropology, and all the rest deal with partic- 
ular aspects of human association, sociology is the science which 
investigates the regularities of human association in all its varied 
aspects. The special social sciences take as presuppositions the 
general aspects which are the objects of sociology. Take, for 
instance, the trust and consider all the facts and phenomena of 
society that arise out of it. If we consider it from an economic 
standpoint, we shall be determining how the trust increases the 
development of wealth, its effect on wages or on general distribu- 
tion of products, and many other economic questions. It is 
evident that we are working within the province of economics. 
If we consider the moral conduct of the individual interested in 
the trust, and its general effects on the morals of the community, 
we shall be studying ethics. If, however, we consider what 
legislation may be brought to control or regulate the trust, we 
shall be in the realm of political science. If, finally, we consider 
trust-phenomena in relation to their effects on the homes and 
migrations of people, the dispersion and concentration of social 
groups, in fact, the general effect on the social standard, we shall 
be in the realm of sociology. So we shall find, so far as the 
material field of operation is concerned, that all sciences cross 
each other more or less, and we must not forget that in reality 
there is but one science, — the science of the universe, — and that 
the division of this science into groups and individual branches is 
merely a matter of convenience and pedagogical relationships. 
Let, for instance in Figure I, — which is merely illustrative, 
not exhaustive, — the rectangle A, B, C, D represent all pos- 


26 OUTLINES OF SOCIOLOGY 


sible social phenomena, that of EF, F,G, H all the phenomena 
of the science of ethics, M, NV, O, P that of economics, X,Y, Z, 
W that of political science, S, V, T, L that of history, and J, 
J, R, K that of sociology, and they will have a tendency to 
overlap each other somewhat similarly to the arrangement rep- 
resented in that figure. But the sciences themselves do not over- 
lap for the reasons stated above. 


A N x as Ss B 


1 
Political 
Science 
ee a 
LN 
Sociology i 


- 
Ve MS 
ZO sd 


D T Ww Z P 














Ethics 
ee 
Ne 





Groups of Social Sciences. — The following schedule will 
represent a simple classification of the social sciences from a 
pedagogical standpoint. Only the principal subheads are given 
under each main group: 


I. Ethics. 
Principles of Ethics. 
History of Ethics. 
Social Ethics. 


DEFINITION AND SCOPE OF SOCIOLOGY 27 


II. Economics. 
Economic Theory and Institutions. 
Economic Politics. 
Industrial History. 
Labor Legislation. 
Banking and Monetary Theory. 
Taxation and Finance. 

III. Politics. 
Political Theory. 
Diplomacy and International Law. 
National Administration. 
Municipal Administration. 
Constitutional Law. 
Colonial Administration. 

IV. History. 
Political History. 
History of Institutions. 
Social History. 
Historical Geography. 

V. Sociology. 
Descriptive Sociology. 
Social Origins. 
Social Evolution. 
Social Pathology. 
Socialization and Social Control. 
Social Psychology. 
History of Sociology. 

VI. Anthropology. 
General Anthropology. 
Ethnology. 
Ethnography. 
Somatology. 
Archeology. 

VII. Comparative Religion. 


This list of social sciences might be extended considerably, but 
for pedagogic reasons this classification is sufficient to show the 
relative position of each. It would seem absurd to attempt to 
combine all these into one and to make a synthesis of the group or 
to build up a science on the results of the group. This would 
be to assume that everything that related to social life should be 
classified within one science. It would be like attempting to 
classify everything that relates to inorganic bodies in one science 


28 OUTLINES OF SOCIOLOGY 


and classifying everything that relates to life in another. Nor 
will it answer to substitute in the place of the heading “‘ Social 
Sciences’ the term “ Sociology,’ for this would necessarily 
eliminate number V from the category and leave a great gap 
in the scientific arrangement of social knowledge. 

The Pedagogic Limits of Sociology. — For pedagogic reasons, 
if for no other, sociology should have a definite boundary. 
It should not attempt to displace or absorb either political 
economy, ethics, political science, or any other well-established 
social science. It should not attempt to be merely a generic 
term including them all in a group, nor indeed is it a science built 
up of the parts of the several social sciences. Much less is it a 
classification or codrdination of the results of the independent 
social sciences. It is an independent science having a separate 
existence and its own methods of investigation. Nevertheless it 
does obtain data from economics, politics, and other social 
sciences. So, too, does it obtain material from biology and 
psychology, and yet no one would think of including these within 
the scope of sociology. 

Sociology therefore occupies a very important place in the group 
of social sciences. As already stated, it occupies much the same 
position with reference to the social sciences that biology holds to 
the natural sciences dealing with organic phenomena. As Ward 
has well said, because of its general nature, “‘ Sociology is a sort 
of a head to which the other social sciences are attached as a 
body and limbs.” ‘Therefore, its relation to other social sci- 
ences in the university curriculum must be very close. 

The Relation of Sociology to Psychology and to Biology. — 
Biology studies the completed individual unit and seldom goes 
beyond this. Its object is to show the origin and development 
of life in all of its various forms, and in its study it pursues the 
history of the individual from the first protoplasmic germ to 
the completed organism. On the other hand, psychology deals 
with the mental powers and habits of the individual. Its whole 
aim is to discover normal and abnormal action of the mind. 
These two sciences dealing alone with the individual have com- 
pleted the range of their scientific investigation when they have 
discovered and classified all the phenomena concerning the in- 
dividual ; the one, those manifested by him as a living being, the 
other, those manifested by him as a being who thinks, feels, and 


DEFINITION AND SCOPE OF SOCIOLOGY 29 


wills. It is true that biology incidentally touches upon some 
phases of social life influenced by biological conditions, and also 
that psychology branches out occasionally into social psychology 
for the purpose of interpreting individual characteristics. But 
in neither case is there any aim or purpose to present systemati- 
cally the phenomena of social life. On the other hand, sociology 
has to do with the association of the bio-psychical units. It does 
not inquire into the growth of the individual man, either as to his 
origin, structure, or evolution, but deals with the phenomena 
arising from his association with his fellows. 

The Relation of Sociology to Political Economy. — Prior to 
the development of modern sociology, even before Spencer had 
written his monumental work and Ward had published his 
Dynamic Sociology, there was a tendency for political economy 
to expand from the old narrow bounds as laid down by Adam 
Smith, Ricardo, and others. This tendency grew with the ex- 
pansion of industrial life until economics was reaching out to 
grasp a large group of phenomena which might be treated either 
from the economic or the purely social standpoint. The histori- 
cal school of political economy brought into economic life many 
of the details of human society which are rather the effects of 
competitive economic processes on social well-being, than funda- 
mental principles of economics. Indeed, some went so far as 
to weave into their economic writings much of ethics and politics, 
and also some characteristics of social life other than the 
purely economic. But as sociology developed rapidly and 
covered its own particular field, economics withdrew to its own 
natural boundaries. Political economy deals with the social 
phenomena that arise from the production and distribution of 
wealth. In a general way it may be said that wealth is its central 
problem, and only the social phenomena that are closely grouped 
about it may be considered as economic. It is true that eco- 
nomic relations are social relations, but the processes of economics 
are different from those of sociology. Yet sociology may use 
for its purpose certain conclusions of political economy, just as 
it may use the laws and principles discovered in any other 
scientific field which have social bearings, as data for broader 
generalizations. 

The chief differences between sociology and political economy, 
then, are to be found in the fact that political economy works in a 


30 OUTLINES OF SOCIOLOGY 


specific, while sociology works in a general social field. Political 
economy has to do with the wealth phase of social life, both as 
it existed in the past and as it exists to-day, while sociology 
searches for the general laws controlling the entire structure and 
activity of society. Thus, their boundaries are clearly defined, 
their purposes are widely different, and their material fields of 
operation are separate except for certain overlappings, where 
they deal with the same social phenomena, but always look at 
them from a different angle. 

The Relation of Sociology to Political Science. — Political 
science generally purports to be, as its name indicates, — the 
science of government, — which would include the classification 
and study of the methods of local, state, and national govern- 
ments or, in America especially, the interpretation of govern- 
ment and methods of administration. The theory of politics, 
the development of the state, and state craft are subjects for 
its consideration. While political science is seeking to set forth 
the principles of government, sociology, on the one hand, is 
seeking for the universal elements of social activity to be found 
in political development, as in economic development, and, on 
the other hand, is studying the effects of those principles on so- 
ciety. Here, as elsewhere, sociology uses as data the product of 
another social science. There may be times when it is difficult 
to draw a line dividing the field work of the two sciences, al- 
though the respective aims of these sciences and the social facts 
studied in each case are clearly distinguished from each other. 
The history of the development of constitutions and systems of 
administration, while it records the progress of humanity in a 
given direction, is not strictly sociological, but it supplies raw 
material for sociology in that like every other special social 
science it furnishes a basis for generalization as to the way in 
which society as a whole originates and develops. 

The Relation of Sociology to History. — History deals with 
the details of evidence, while sociology deals with general laws 
and principles. History would be interested in the narration 
of the various facts attendant upon the rise and fall of the Roman 
Empire, but after giving a full and complete description of every 
movement its service would be finished; on the other hand, 
sociology cares nothing about all of these details except as they 
lead to some general truths relating to the origin or progress of 


DEFINITION AND SCOPE OF SOCIOLOGY 38 


society. However, certain treatments of history have ap- 
proached nearer to the realm of pure sociology. Thus, for in- 
stance, recent philosophy of history, represented by Barth’s 
writings in contrast with Hegel’s, deals with the social causes 
and effects of nation building and furnishes general concepts 
concerning the development of single groups of known societies. 
A good deal that has been written under the title of sociology is 
nothing more than the philosophy of history interpreted in social 
and economic terms and frequently the philosophy of history has 
so broadened its scope as to be a social philosophy.t But the 
philosophy of society proceeds deductively while sociology works 
inductively. From this statement it must not be inferred that 
history does not deal with social facts. Among many historical 
writers this phase of history has been much neglected, but 
history is broadening its scope and is becoming more serviceable 
as a means of culture.2, However, in its broadest aspect it fails 
to include the whole range of social phenomena. Facts about 
society do not, in themselves, make a social science. 

The Relation of Sociology to Anthropology. — Anthropology 
in its broadest sense is the science of man, — physical, intellec- 
tual, and social. There is a sociological aspect to some parts of 
anthropology; for example, that which refers to sociological 
characteristics and to the natural habitat of man. But anthro- 
pology in its limited view should really only include the natural 
history of mankind. It does not include such sciences as 
biology, psychology, sociology, political science, or economics. 
Its chief purpose is to view man as an minal possessed of 
mental and physical characteristics, and in his normal habi- 
tat in comparison with other animals. Its purpose is some- 
what different from that of any other social science, but it very 
nearly approaches sociology in the fields of social origins, social 
population, and certain fields of social reform, like criminology, 
and this gives it a position among the social sciences. If it were 
purely biological, as is one branch of it, somatology, treating of 
physical structure, — of anatomy and physiology, — it would be 
purely a branch of zodlogy. A large portion of this work must 
be given up to the description of the social life of primitive 


1Cf. Paul Barth, Die Philosophie der Geschichte als Sociologie. 
2See James Harvey Robinson’s essay on History. Columbia University Press, 
1908. 


32 OUTLINES OF SOCIOLOGY 


people in order to represent man in his true characteristics, in- 
dividual and social. There are many divisions of the subject of 
anthropology, such as somatology, or the determination of physi- 
cal characteristics, anthropometry, which relates to the system 
of measurement of mankind; ethnology, which treats of racial 
characteristics ; and ethnography, which concerns itself with the 
origin, subdivision, and distribution of races over the earth’s 
surface. But not one or all of these combined could be substi- 
tuted for sociology. Here, again, is a special social science which 
supplies data for the general social science, sociology. The 
data furnished by anthropology are the bricks from which is 
constructed in part the temple of sociology. 

Herbert Spencer, in his Principles of Sociology, and Letourneau 
in his Sociology, have dealt more with phases of anthropology 
in many instances than with pure sociology; they show the 
ethnic basis of society. Spencer’s Principles, as presented in 
the first two volumes, would represent rather a preliminary 
survey of the groundwork of sociology so far as it relates to 
primitive people. Letourneau spends much time on the so- 
ciological description of primitive peoples. Both furnish abasic 
support to sociology, but they leave off about where sociology 
should begin. 

Various Conceptions of Sociology. — While various writers 
have viewed sociology from many different standpoints, such as 
economics, philosophy of history, anthropology, biology, and 
political science, there are other writers who see sociology as a 
general science, distinct from any of these special sciences, and 
who seek to find some single unifying principle on which to base 
it. They differ, however, as to what is the fundamental social 
fact on which society is built up, and consequently as to the 
central. principle or conception’ in sociology. For example, 
M. Tarde in his Laws of Imitation, has laid unusual stress upon a 
single feature of social action, viz., imitation. This is made to 
dominate everything else. Later, in his Social Laws, he has 
attempted to reduce sociology to three fundamental conceptions ; 
namely, ‘‘ repetition, opposition, and adaptation.’”’ Giddings, 
in his Principles, viewed sociology from a single fundamental 
principle, ‘‘ The consciousness of kind.” In his later works, 
however, Giddings has broadened out his structure of sociology 
and has reduced “‘ consciousness of kind ” to a subordinate place, 


DEFINITION AND SCOPE OF SOCIOLOGY 33 


where, although it is a very important concept, it occupies its 
true position. Gumplowicz, in his Der Rassenkampf (War of 
Races), has viewed society from the standpoint of the contact 
of races, group-struggles being the fundamental fact. Novicow, 
in his Les Luttes entre societies humaines (Struggle Among Human 
Societies), has approached this same idea from a different stand- 
point. And, finally, we have a new conception termed by Ward 
“unconscious social constraint,’’ which represents a number of 
writers who try to show that society has been built through the 
moral or psychic action of individuals in association, and that 
this represents, indeed, an important characteristic — an idea 
which is essential to all rightly constructed society. This view 
prevails in special studies of sociologists rather than as the foun- 
dation of a completed system. Such works as Ross’s Social 
Control, Spencer’s Ceremonial Institutions, and Durkheim’s 
Laws and Methods of Sociology are good examples of this concept 
of sociology, although each one sees it in a somewhat different 
light. 

The Foundation of Sociology. — Notwithstanding the im- 
portance of all the above concepts of sociology, the science rep- 
resents a much broader foundation than any one of them. A 
complete sociology must take all that is true in each one of these 
ideas and weave the whole matter into a logically constructed 
science. Such a work would be a monumental treatise of the 
subject. It would be beyond the range of possibility of an or- 
dinary textbook to give it an adequate presentation. At pres- 
ent we must be content to direct the mind of the student along 
the highway of general development, pointing out certain move- 
ments of society and the laws that govern them. 


REFERENCES 


ELLwoop, CHARLES A. Sociology in its Psychological Aspects, Chap. III. 

Gippincs, F. H. The Principles of Sociology, Chap. I1; Inductive Sociology, 
Chap. IT. 

SMALL, ALBION W. Methodology of Sociology. 

SMALL, ALBION W., and VINCENT, GeorGE E., Introduction to the Study of 
Society, Bk. I, Chap. III. 

Warp, Lester F. Pure Sociology, Chaps. II and III; “Contemporary 
Sociology,” American Journal of Sociology, Vol. VII, pp. 475-500, 629- 
658, 749-762. Reprinted as brochure, Chicago, 1902, p. 70. Ouilines 
of Sociology, Chap. I. 


D 


34 OUTLINES OF SOCIOLOGY 


QUESTIONS AND EXERCISES 


1. What are the essentials of a good definition? See Century Dictionary. 

2. Judged by these essentials, which is the best definition given in this 
chapter ? 

3. Can you cite any other sciences which have benefited by use of “the 
genetic method ”’? 

4. How do survivals in clothing illustrate the point that it is impossible 
to understand certain things now in existence without knowing the origins 
from which they developed? Can you think of any other illustrations? 

5. Write out a careful analysis of the social activities and the social 
structures through which the activities are carried on in your home or other 
community with which you are acquainted. 

6. In what respects are a lodge, a bank, a state, like a tree or an animal? 
In what are they different ? 

7. State the general outlines of Spencer’s theory of “the social organism.”’ 
What corresponds to the digestive apparatus of an animal? What to the 
brain and other higher nervous centers? 

8. In what sense can we legitimately speak of social forces in sociology ? 

9. What is meant by a law in sociology? 

10. Name three influences of physical nature which cause men to co- 
operate and combine. 

11. What physical characteristics of individuals cause them to associate 
together ? 

Name some physical differences which keep them from associating 
together. 

12. Compare Comte’s, Spencer’s, and Ward’s conceptions of the term 
‘social statics” or static sociology, and of “social dynamics,” or dynamic 
sociology. 

13. Explain how a struggle based on destruction of others could result 
in a being whose guiding principle is love and service of his fellows and whose 
practice is to “turn the other cheek.”’ 

14. Explain how, when such a creature once appeared in the midst of a 
‘Nature red in tooth and claw,” he and his kind could possibly survive. 

15. Criticize the assertion that sociology is only a hodgepodge of the 
various social sciences such as politics, economics, history, etc. 

16. State clearly the differences between sociology and the following 
social sciences: economics, politics, ethics. 


CHAPTER III 


THE PURPOSE AND METHOD OF SOCIOLOGY 


Purpose. — The foregoing chapter pointed out the position 
of sociology among social sciences and indicated the field in 
which it operates. Its scientific purpose is primarily to 
generalize what is known about society. In attaining this 
ultimate aim of the science, it is necessary for the student to 
search a wide realm of knowledge and to acquaint himself with 
sociological data. He must deal primarily with facts — not 
necessarily with material facts, although these should not be 
passed by, but psychical, economic, political, moral, and social 
facts which exist over and above the material world; for here, 
as elsewhere, the first scientific process is the assembling and 
classification of facts. In this process social relationships are of 
great importance. A knowledge of society as it actually exists 
is essential, and this cannot be obtained by philosophizing about 
what society ought to be, for the result of such a course would 
be to generalize about an ideal society. However, it may fairly 
be claimed that the full purpose of the science will not have been 
attained until it contributes to the social well-being and the in- 
dividual happiness of mankind. Sociology has a practical pur- 
pose. Based upon a knowledge of how society has come to be 
what it is to-day, sociology can better point the way in which 
the social organization can more effectively adapt itself to the 
changing conditions of life. From a careful analysis of the social 
structures and processes of society as organized at present, 
sociology will derive that understanding of the nature of society 
which will suggest remedies for its ills. A sound social technol- 
ogy is based upon a careful study of the origin, development, 
and analysis of present-day social structure and_ processes.} 


1 “Tt is vicious to encourage students to speculate about great questions of social 
reform before they have learned to know intimately the facts of social structures 
and functions.’”’ — SMALL and VINCENT, An Introduction to the Study of Society, p. 20. 


35 


36 OUTLINES OF SOCIOLOGY 


The ought of social conduct, then, must be considered. The 
purpose of sociology is not fulfilled when it has classified and 
described social phenomena, discovered the social forces, and 
formulated laws of social being and growth. It should point 
the way to a better social life and to the improvement of the 
social mechanism. In short, we may say that the purpose of 
sociology is, first, to understand society; then, to enable us to for- 
mulate a scientific program of social betterment. 

The Object of Society. — Originally and fundamentally society 
had for its aim the protection of a group of individuals from the 
influences which tend to destroy either the group or the individ- 
ual. Some of these influences are those operating from with- 
out, others from within the group. On the one hand, the social 
organization operates to preserve and perpetuate the human 
stock by protecting it from its enemies — the ferocious animals, 
violent forces of nature, and savage mankind. It is organized, 
primarily, for the perpetuation of the group, and, secondarily, 
for the protection of the individual. On the other hand, by its 
beneficent organization, it deals out justice to those within the 
group and keeps them from destroying one another. For long 
ages this codperation was probably quite unconscious as to def- 
inite purpose. From the codperation to be seen in the social 
organizations of some of the lower forms of life, like ants and bees, 
the probabilities are that social codperation was early established 
by natural selection weeding out those who did not develop 
the social tendencies leading to codperation. Later the advan- 
tage which codperation gave for survival became apparent first 
to a few leaders and then to wider circles of a population. Pleas- 
urable results from codperation — results experienced from the 
earliest days of association of like beings — were intensified 
as intelligence developed and as new methods of codperation were 
devised. At first limited to economic and sympathetic codpera- 
tion, the field gradually widened to include an increasing number 
of subjects. Gradually codperation became predominantly 
conscious, varied in method, and wider in scope, so that in de- 
veloped societies the objects for which social organization exists 
have multiplied to include those finer satisfactions of life which 
are beyond the mere necessities of survival. Hence, the sys- 
tematic study of a society to-day having such a purpose creates 
a science concerned not alone with social movements, but with 


THE PURPOSE AND METHOD OF SOCIOLOGY 37 


the well-being of man. This makes it one of the most im- 
portant of the social sciences, for it appeals directly to every- 
day life. Its phenomena are the everyday activities of men. 
Its laboratory is the world of social life. Its interest is bound 
up with every human aspiration and hope. 

The Problems of Sociology. — The numerous problems con- 
fronting the sociologist are of a varied nature. Perhaps the fun- 
damental problem is a correct conception of the origin, structure, 
and activities of society. A correct knowledge of the parts and 
functions of society and their relation to one another is of prime 
importance to the student. It is essential that he understand 
not only social phenomena, but the causes producing them and 
the effects which grow out of their interrelations. 

The demonstration of the regularity of recurring social 
phenomena is no less important, for without this no definite 
conclusions can be reached. If there are no regularities in social 
life, no general laws under which large bodies of social facts 
can be subsumed, then sociology has not reached the dignity of 
a science. 

The question of the freedom of the human will in shaping 
social development is another vital problem. Can the conscious 
purpose of man control social events? In its solution is in- 
volved the relation of the so-called natural development of 
society to its development under the control of the social mind. 
It leads to the problem of social consciousness and social pur- 
pose. Moreover, it determines the position and influence of 
the individual in social activities. If man’s purposive efforts 
for the changing of social conditions are useless, he might as 
well sit down and fold his hands while the slow but merciless 
process of natural forces work out the destiny of the race. 

This problem is followed, on the other hand, by the question 
of the possibility of applying the principles of organic evolution 
to society. If man can control society, then what part is left to 
natural forces of the world in the shaping of social development ? 

Again, if progress is brought about through the struggle of 
individuals and races and the survival of the fittest, is peace 
or war of greater value to the human race?! 

In the wake of these fundamental philosophic problems con- 


1See ‘The Problems of Sociology,” by Gustav Ratzenhofer, American Journal of 
Sociology, Sept., 1904. 


38 OUTLINES OF SOCIOLOGY 


nected with sociology come many practical problems. There 
are the questions of the relation of ethical and religious culture 
to social development. Are they part of the process ? Are they 
causes or are they effects, or each in turn? What kind of 
government should be sought in view of the history of social 
development? What should be society’s attitude towards its 
waste products—the dependent, defective, and criminal 
classes? What message, if any, has sociology for the educa- 
tional and business systems of society? Does it throw any 
light upon the measures to be taken to direct society along lines 
of future development in the interest of the highest type of 
social personality and of social group? All these and many more 
problems thrust themselves upon the sociologist for answer. 

The Unit of Investigation in Sociology. — Each science has 
its unit of investigation, that is to say, its specific object of 
study. Thus, biology studies the living being, and anthropology 
man in his physical relations. Sociology studies the socius, or 
man in his social relations. As in the case of each of the sciences 
mentioned, processes and products are studied also, but these are 
studied in order to throw light upon the main problem, that of 
man’s social activities. Connected with man’s social activity 
are all those products and processes which we call social phe- 
nomena. Social phenomena, as Ross reminds us, ‘are all 
phenomena which we cannot explain without bringing in the 
action of one human being on another.’’? Moreover, these 
phenomena must not be exceptional, but must be so characteris- 
tic of a large group of people that they provide a basis for gen- 
eralization. For example, the phenomena which arise when 
two people meet and associate have no social significance if 
they are peculiar to those two only and are not likely to occur 
when two other people meet and associate under the same cir- 
cumstances. Sociology studies man in his social relations, as 
affecting and as affected by association, together with all the prod- 
ucts and processes consequent upon such association.® 


1See Ross, Foundations of Sociology, Chap. IV, where he contends that there is 
no one unit of investigation, but many, such as products and processes of association, 
as well as the socius himself. 2 Tbid., p. 7. 

The position taken here is essentially that of Ward, Pure Sociology, p. 38, 
where he says: “It [sociology] does not really study men or the human race at all. 
That belongs to other sciences than sociology, chiefly to anthropology. It studies 
activities, results, products, in a word, achievement.” 


THE PURPOSE AND METHOD OF SOCIOLOGY 39 


The Method of Sociology. — The method of sociology de- 
pends primarily upon its nature as a science and secondarily 
upon its position among other sciences. Being a general social 
science devoted to the broad field of human association, it must 
generalize upon the data furnished by other sciences bearing 
upon social life. Its place in the hierarchy of sciences demands 
the same general method as other sciences. On the other hand, 
owing to the fact that so many social phenomena have not been 
treated by any special social science, it has been necessary for 
sociology to collect the facts in certain fields of social activity, 
for example, that of the family, in order to have a basis on 
which to generalize, and in every field to use the essentially 
sociological data provided by the results of other sciences.! It 
is to-day a concrete science with a strong tendency to become a 
generalized science setting forth general principles based upon 
descriptive studies. Just as political economy began with the 
observation of special phenomena and rapidly became an ab- 
stract science, so sociology is moving in the same way as more 
general laws are discovered. But economics, even as an abstract 
science, never loses sight of concrete phenomena. Certain 
generalizations having been made, the economist proceeds with 
renewed vigor to the investigation of concrete phenomena. It 
is probable that sociology will, for many years to come, continue 
to be largely a concrete or descriptive science. The variations 
in the movements of society caused by the inventive genius of 
man will have a tendency to prevent the science from tran- 
scending the limitations of the concrete. Nevertheless the vital 
point of any science is “ generalization,’ and while the accumu- 
lation of facts is essential to its proper study, sociology will grow 
only through generalization. 

The Concrete Method. — The investigation of society will 
always be carried on by the observation of the life of parts of 
society and its movement as a whole. This will cause it to be 
descriptive and concrete and to reach its conclusions from the 
results of observation rather than from abstract reasoning. 
There has been too much philosophizing about society without 
an intelligent interpretation of the facts. Indeed, there is no 
social science that has not lost much through the neglect of con- 
crete observation and through the cultivation of deductive 

1See Ross, Foundations of Sociology, pp. 81-84. 


40 OUTLINES OF SOCIOLOGY 


reasoning that has frequently ended in a vast amount of the- 
orizing not always conducive to the development of science nor 
the advancement of mankind. Yet there are always general 
laws to be formulated, and it is the proper use of the facts, rather 
than the facts themselves, that makes a science. Hence, 
abstraction and generalization necessarily follow. The large 
number of social phenomena make it necessary for the student 
to collect, classify, and arrange them in logical order before he 
can reach definite conclusions. ‘The best sociologists of to-day 
have not at their disposal a sufficient number of concrete data 
respecting the constitution and activities of society. Great as 
is the difficulty, the observation of concrete phenomena fur- 
nishes the only true basis for the construction of a formal science 
of society. There remains much work of this character yet to 
be done. We have only just begun the practice of studying in- 
tensively and comprehensively cross sections of our social life 
by means of the social survey. 

The Data of Other Sciences. — While the sociologist carries 
on his investigation independently, he accepts the conclusions 
reached by other sciences and uses the data collected by them. 
It would be idle to ignore what biology has taught us concerning 
the physical system of man, the primary causes of association, 
or, indeed, the influence of heredity, for these must enter as 
primary causes of social development. We must not neglect 
what psychology has to teach us of the nature of the mind of 
the individual, for it is from this that we start in our efforts to 
understand the social mind. Political economy in the study of 
the economic life has given us many principles and laws and 
accumulated data which must be utilized in developing the 
science of sociology. And the same is the case with political 
science, ethics, and history; they have gained knowledge of 
certain aspects of social life, and it is idle for the sociologist to 
ignore their conclusions and attempt to do the work over again. 
But, as stated in the last chapter, sociology cannot become a 
synthesis of these sciences, nor is it a mental science simply 
because it studies the social habits of thinking people. Its 
scope is much wider than this. 

As Ross has so well pointed out, the sociologist is not looking 
for the same things as the historian, the economist, the political 
scientist, or the psychologist. The sociologist is trying to rise 


THE PURPOSE AND METHOD OF SOCIOLOGY 4I 


from particular cases to general terms. He wants not solitary 
or striking facts but recurrent phenomena, no matter how trivial 
they may seem to scholars in other fields. The only require- 
ment is that these phenomena be social and that they show 
tendencies and reveal regularities of social activity. Sociology 
studies objective groups, relations, institutions, subjective im- 
peratives and uniformities in society. All of them are products 
of the social process. It also studies the social processes by 
which these social products are produced.' Sociology differs 
from the other social sciences in two respects. It begins where 
they leave off, and its data are those growing out of association 
in all its aspects. 

Sociology varies from Other Social Sciences chiefly on 
Account of its General Nature. — Sociology has its own inde- 
pendent purpose and its own definite scope, and therefore can 
accept what has been accomplished without interfering with 
the status of other sciences. In seeking to discover and present 
general laws it transcends the limited position of each of the 
other social sciences. The difficulty attending its generalization 
makes the development of the science slow.? 

The scope of the sociological field as well as its differentiation 
from the fields occupied by the other social sciences is clearly 
indicated by Professor Ross’s Map of the Sociological Field 
which is here added.® 

The Course of Reasoning. — _M. Comte, who first made a 
formal declaration regarding sociology, placed it in the category 
of descriptive and concrete sciences, but his own treatment of 
the subject in his Positive Philosophy was that of a social philos- 


1 Ross, Foundations of Sociology, p. 90 sq. 

2“ Sociology is one of the abstract sciences. The sociologist aims to rise from 
particular cases to general terms which he can employ in formulating generalizations 
and laws. He wants not unique facts, but recurrent facts, for which he can frame 
a concept that shall neglect details and emphasize common properties. The facts 
he uses are in many cases too numerous and too insignificant to attract even the 
notice of the historian. . . . History is not, as many suppose, the quarry to which 
sociologists resort for their material. The records of the past — its monuments, 
survivals, legends, and documents are the common quarry for both historian and 
sociologist. The former explores them for events, i.e. things that occur only once, 
and are definite as regards date, place, and person. The latter prizes most the 
humble facts of repetition which interest the historian only at those rare intervals 
when he interrupts the current of his narrative to exhibit the staie or transformations 
of domestic life, manners, industry, law, or religion.’’ — Ross, Foundations of Sociol- 
ogy, pp. 81, 82. 

8 Ross, Foundations of Sociology, p. 98. 


OUTLINES OF SOCIOLOGY 


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4A OUTLINES OF SOCIOLOGY 

ophy rather than that of an inductive science. In the beginning 
it was very natural that sociology should be a philosophy in order 
thatits place among the philosophic interests might be determined 
and its field so delimited as to show its possible value. However, 
recently emphasis has been given to inductive study. Facts 
or data have; been observed, collected, and classified and 
general principles have been deduced. The substantial prog- 
ress of the science has been along the lines of concrete 
investigation by establishing principles from constantly re- 
curring regularities in the mass of data. 

The experimental process of society building in which each 
new form of association or organization has tried to meet the 
exigencies of the case, and the consequent passing of customs, 
habits, and laws rendered obsolete by the “law of survival,” 
would seem to indicate that no formal science based on axioms, 
postulates, and theorems capable of demonstration could be 
established on such a shifting experimental basis. But as no 
cycle of reasoning is complete without both methods, the de- 
ductive will always be used along with the inductive. 

Scientific Method must be Observed. — It is very important, 
whatever process of reasoning is employed, that there should 
be a strict scientific method in all treatment of social phenomena. 
Comte _made the first step in this direction by giving sociology 
an honored place in the hierarchy of sciences, and Spencer early 
acknowledged the need of more extended data, which in part 
accounts for his Descriptive Sociology and the large collection of 
social facts in his Principles. Ward, in his Dynamic Soctology, 
has approached his main topics from the concrete and rounded 
his argument with a deductive method. Yet how many writers 
on sociology have succeeded in doing little more than record im- 
pressions or, at least, expound theories from their respective 
points of view! Every science has made material advancement 
just in proportion as it has discovered facts and arranged them 
in scientific order. Therefore, sociology will develop in pro- 
portion as speculation ceases and thorough scientific investiga- 
tion advances. Difficulties indeed present themselves at once 
when the endeavor is made to bring some classes of social facts 
under statistical control. It is difficult, for example, to measure 
the growth or decline of a custom, a belief, a tradition. We 
may be convinced that there has been an increase or decrease ; 


THE PURPOSE AND METHOD OF SOCIOLOGY 45 


but the scientific determination of the quantitative differences 
is much more difficult in sociology than in the biological sciences, 
or even in psychology or education. Nevertheless, the sociolo- 
gists have made a very creditable beginning. Dealing first 
with the measurement of the most easily controlled social facts, 
such as population, housing, wages, poverty, pauperism, crime, 
insanity, and feeble-mindedness, the sociologists have attempted 
to bring under control of exact scientific measurement the much 
more intractable social phenomena of the social mind. 

Many Phases of Sociology. — The descriptive phase of the 
science of sociology must be made prominent, for it is only by 
such description that clearly defined notions of the subject 
matter can be obtained. Without it people are led into error. 
For example, many people wrote about the trust, disposing of 
it with summary methods when its real nature, as well as its 
origin and development, was unknown to them. ‘They wrote in 
the dark, hence their conclusions were mostly worthless. Com- 
paratively little of all that has been written about such subjects 
as “Money,” “‘ Marriage and Divorce,” ‘‘ Education,’’ “ Social- 
ism,” ‘‘ Trusts,” ‘‘ Labor and Capital ”’ is of real value because 
the facts were not known and the relations of the particular sub- 
ject under discussion to other subjects were not understood. 

Social statistics must occupy a large place in social science 
and its work will, so far as possible, include the whole range of 
social development. There is great need of careful statistical 
studies of many aspects of our social life. The studies in the 
Reports of the United States Census are valuable as far as they 
go. They give us a grasp of some aspects of our social life, 
such as population, its composition, and organization in family 
groups. The census has also contributed special studies on 
marriage and divorce, on religious bodies, on the colored people 
in certain employments, etc. Each decade some new aspects 
of our social life are studied statistically, but it leaves so much 
untouched that the sociologist feels how inadequately the Census 
as a whole represents our complex social life. From the stand- 
point of the novice in sociology, often a much better understand- 
ing of the nature of the subject is obtained by selecting a small 
unit like a rural township or one or more city blocks and study- 


1Such a study is Giddings’s “‘The Social Marking System,” American Journal 
of Sociology, Vol. XV, p. 721. 


46 OUTLINES OF SOCIOLOGY 


ing that unit intensively according to a definite plan mapped 
out by some competent person. 

Social evolution contributes much to the understanding of 
social life besides making clear the forces that act in society 
building and the laws that govern it. Therefore the student of 
sociology studies carefully the development of civilization in 
different parts of the world. He goes to descriptions of the 
nature peoples, to folklore, and to the life of the classic peoples 
of the past, to medieval customs, and to survivals of all kinds 
in our modern life, in order to learn the steps in the development 
of social institutions and processes, in the hope that he may 
find regularities of social action and reaction common to them 
all and thus discover generalizations or laws of society. 

While the normal society is the great object of study, one 
must not neglect the obsolete forms of society, for it is in the 
broken-down parts that we frequently discover the laws of social 
growth and social decay. Just as it was by the study of dis- 
ease in the human being that we came to know about the normal 
body and normal mind, so by following up the evidence dis- 
played in degenerate types of social groups, one is frequently 
led to the truths which underlie normal society. Such study 
must be thorough and scientific and far removed from all mor- 
bid sentiment or philosophic hysterics. Social pathology may 
have as an important result the determination of the ought of 
social action. 


REFERENCES 


Gippincs, F. H. Inductive Sociology, Chaps. I, III. 

RATZENHOFER, GUSTAV. ‘The Problems of Sociology,” American Journal 
of Sociology, Vol. X, p. 177. 

Ross, E. A. Foundations of Sociology, Chaps. I and IV. 

SMALL, A. W. ‘Methodology of Sociology,” American Journal of Sociology, 
Vol. IV, pp. 113-144; 235-256; 380-304. 

Warp, Lester F. Pure Sociology, Chap. IV. 


QUESTIONS AND EXERCISES 


1. How is the primary purpose of sociology related to its practical pur- 
pose? 

2. If it should be established that the conscious purpose of man can have 
no influence upon social development, what would be the practical effect 
upon movements to improve social conditions? 


THE PURPOSE AND METHOD OF SOCIOLOGY 47 


3. Make out a broad, general outline of the things you would want to 
investigate, if you were going to study society so as to get a general idea of its 
nature. 

4. In connection with the section on the problems of sociology, read 
Giddings’s Principles of Sociology, pp. 70-76, and then write out in outline 
form a statement of the problems of sociology. 

5. Why is it that statistics were not applied so early to the study of social 
phenomena as to the study of, let us say, the biological ? 

6. Name all the groups of social facts which you know have been treated 
statistically. 

7. Name some social phenomena which have not yet been studied by the 
statistical methods. 

8. Outline a study of your own home community, dividing the study into 
the various heads and subdivisions under which the facts concerning it 
would best be grouped in order to enable one to understand that community 
from a sociological standpoint. 


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CHAPTER I 
SOCIAL ORIGINS 


Social Evolution. — By studying the various types of con- 
temporary societies one may learn how society itself came into 
being. The student might begin by considering the evolution 
of several social groups which have grown up under his eyes. 
One might consider them in the order of their complexity, for 
example, first taking up the rural family, next, perhaps the farm- 
ing community, then the village, and then the city.!. On the 
other hand, an understanding of the simple processes in the for- 
mation of a society might be obtained by a study of existing 
social institutions, traditions, customs, and organizations in 
various societies in different stages of development. The latter 
method would show cross sections of societies in successive stages 
of evolution. Both methods are needed in order that the 
student may get a comprehension of the way in which societies 
come to be. The social institutions of to-day have had a his- 
tory, have gone through phases of development. We shall 
know them only as we understand their respective origins and 
the course of their various developments. Some are survivals 
from a stage long since passed. ‘They are fossils as much out 
of place in the present-day world as the skeleton of the dinosaur. 
The sanctions which once gave them vitality and significance 
have passed away. They remain only as traditions, anachro- 
nisms. Others are living, vital social institutions and processes, 
deeply rooted in the social necessities of the present. 

The work of the biologists, beginning with Darwin, has made 
clear to us many features of early social life. This knowledge 
has been supplemented by the culture historians and archeolo- 
gists, dealing with both the prehistoric and the historic peoples. 
Perhaps most illuminating of all has been the work of the com- 

1 Such is the method employed by Small and Vincent in An Introduction to the 
Study of Socicty, Bk. II. 

51 


52 OUTLINES OF SOCIOLOGY 


parative ethnologists, who have brought to our attention in 
the last few years the social organization, the language, customs, 
beliefs, and ideas of what are called the nature peoples of all 
lands. Their labors have made it almost possible for the 
student of society to retrace, step by step, the road along which 
society has progressed to its present stage. 

In our study of social evolution we shall follow the method 
of the comparative ethnologists.! 

The purpose of the study of social evolution is to acquaint 
the student with social origins and the processes of social growth. 
He must bear constantly in mind that society has expanded 
from simple beginnings, part by part, and function by function. 
Moreover, society is always developing. It is changing in size, 
in character, in the complexity of its institutions, in the number 
of its interests, and in the diversity of methods by which it ex- 
presses its social purposes. This is not to deny that societies 
exist in a state of arrested development. There are such, 
but they too are phenomena of social evolution, for they have 
been different and have become what they are through reacting 
to certain definite social and environmental conditions. By 
reason of the fact, however, that arrested or degenerate societies 
are societies caught in the back eddies of the stream of human 
life, our chief interest is in those societies which are in a state of 
progressive development. 

Perhaps it hardly needs to be said that in the study of social 
origins it is assumed that man has developed from a lower 
animal form. The work of the prehistoric anthropologists 
and archeologists has made it comparatively easy to retrace in 
some degree the steps in the physical evolution of man from a be- 
ing which was neither man nor ape, but had characters similar to 
those of both. The remains of Dubois’s Pithecanthropus erectus, 
of the Neanderthal man, and of the Heidelberg man give us our 
best conception of what that being was. The remains of 
prehistoric men found in the caves of France and Portugal rep- 
resent the next higher step in evolution. The development in 
the art and industry of prehistoric men corresponds roughly 
with their physical evolution. What their social life was like we 
do not know. The fact, however, that man has developed from 


1¥For a full statement of the reasons for following this method, see Giddings, 
Elements of Sociology, p. 231; Thomas, Source Book for Social Origins, pp. 3-13. 


SOCIAL ORIGINS 53 


animal-like ancestors, considered in connection with the social 
habits of certain higher animals, makes it highly probable that 
man’s prehistoric ancestors had a social organization interme- 
diate between that of the animals and that of lower types of 
living men. All these discoveries have made a little clearer for 
us that shadowy past out of which man emerged with some social 
organization and some social ideas.! 

Social evolution is difficult to present summarily, for society 
has not developed uniformly from a single idea, but rather from 
a group of ideas more or less interrelated. Hence, in its treat- 
ment we cannot follow through successive stages a clearly defined 
process like the growth of the tree from the seed, but must con- 
sider different phases of activity, such as religion, government, 
law, political organization, industrial activity, and the family 
life, each leading from a simple to a complex state of society 
and each contributing to the solidarity of society as well as to 
the enlarged number of its activities. An outline of origins 
followed by a brief survey of the development of important 
phases of social life is all that can be attempted here. 

The Society of Animals. — While sociology deals with human 
society, it is well to note that the beginnings of social organization 
appear among animals lower in the scale of existence than man. 
This fact gives the student a ground plan for the superstructure 
of society. It indicates also how the informal beginning of 
society rests on a physical basis and develops in proportion to 
intelligence. It cannot be shown that there is an uninterrupted 
continuity of development from the social practices of animals 
to the social practices of human beings, but there is a similarity 
in many points between the lowest human’ societies and the 
highest animal societies. The chief difference is found in the 
variety and versatility of association. If we consider the law 
of conflict and survival, it applies alike to animal societies and to 
natural human groups; also the principle of association for 
protection is the same in both. The social instinct exhibited 
in the pure love of companionship is less pronounced in animal 
societies than in human societies. The sexual instinct plays 


1¥For an introduction to the interesting and instructive discoveries of the past 
twenty years see Clodd, The Story of Primitive Man; Duckworth, Prehistoric Man; 
Keane, Ethnology; Starr, Some First Steps in Human Progress; Chapin, An Intro- 
duction to Social Evolution. 


54 OUTLINES OF SOCIOLOGY 


an important part in each group, but has less force in the former. 
The greatest difference is found in a rapidly growing altruism 
and larger mental power of the human group which permit 
a high state of codperation and organization. In other words, 
animal societies show a few social qualities in embryo which | 
never pass a low grade of development, while human societies 
show these and many others in a highly developed state.! 

We shall find roughly classified two great groups of animals, 
the non-social and the social, roughly corresponding to the 
carnivora and the herbivora. The former are highly individ- 
ualistic, they hunt alone and live most of the year alone; the 
latter codperate in defense, live in families, and develop in con- 
sequence elementary social qualities. 

Some birds of different species work together unconsciously, 
each species seeking to help itself. Others of the same species 
develop a community life, they hold assemblages for migratory 
purposes, they mix out of pure sociability, and they have the 
family instinct. But, as Darwin clearly shows, in all animal 
association the moral sense seems to be wanting. There is no 
reflection on past acts and no comparison of past acts with 
present ones, no valuation of their relative importance — char- 
acteristics which give rise to morality.? 

Herds of antelopes live in harmony and peace, the leaders 
giving warning of danger to the group. Elephants have been 
seen in herds numbering from five to a hundred and fifty. These 
groups are based on family relationships. Monkeys of the Old 
World live in troops composed of family groups. One species 
(Cercopithecus) engages in expeditions under the direction of 
a leader. He commands the troop, stations sentinels, and gives 
orders that are understood and obeyed. Another species 
(Cynocephalus), according to Brehm, exhibits a still higher state 
of organization 

The Causes of Aggregation. — Many influences have caused 
individuals to associate in groups. Among the more important 
may be mentioned the desire for companionship, including 

1 Yet, how striking is codperation among animals and how important a part 
it played in the evolution of animals and man has been most clearly shown by 
Kropotkin, Mutual Aid, A Factor in Evolution. See also Parmelee, The Science of 
Human Behavior, Chaps. XVIJ-XIX. 


2 See Darwin, The Descent of Man, Chap. IV. 
8 See Topinard, Science and Faith, p. 121. 


SOCIAL ORIGINS | 55 


sexual attraction, the influences of climate, the physical condi- 
tions of the earth, the food supply, the consciousness of similar- 
ity, identity of interests, the necessity of protection against 
animals and men, the influence of controlling personalities, and 
codperation in industry. 

Responding to some or all of these influences, animals have 
formed social groups. Primitive men, moved by the same factors 
as the animals and often led by those with a more developed 
mentality and a keener social consciousness, formed themselves 
into groups in which social pleasure was fully awakened and in 
which various social and economic advantages appeared. Illus- 
trations of how animals form into groups are given by the herds 
of buffaloes which once covered our West, by the beaver colonies 
to be found even yet in parts of our country, and by such social 
insects as the ants and the bees. In some of these cases the 
group is a temporary one, in others more lasting, and in some so 
stable that one almost wonders if they do not in the matter of 
stability surpass human social groups. 

The Horde. — The simplest aggregation of people without 
formal organization is called a horde. It is less than the human 
equivalent of the animal “herd.” Its leadership is natural, 
not formal. Its bonds are stronger in some ways, but very little 
different from those natural bonds of physical and mental 
superiority and deference to be observed in animal groups. It 
represents one of the phases of social development. Numerous 
examples of a horde are cited by Westermarck in his History 
of Human Marriage There is little organization among such 
peoples. The constituent families of hordes wander from place 
to place with no permanent dwellings; the group is large to- 
day and small to-morrow. ‘There are some sighs of temporary 
leadership, but no permanent organization. Life is largely sub- 
ject to accident. Yet this group of people represents, to a 
certain extent, the foundation of human society, for it is out of 
this simple homogeneous assemblage that complex society has 
risen. 

The Beginnings of Social Organization. — Within the human 
horde appear small, more closely related groups of people which 
form the primordial social organizations. Small industrial, 


1 Parmelee, The Science of Human Behavior, Chaps. XVII-XIX. See Thomas, A 
Source Book for Social Origins, pp. 461-468. 


56 OUTLINES OF SOCIOLOGY 


family, and religious groups appear which gradually transform 
the rather indefinite mass into a social order. These small 
centers of organized power appear spontaneously. They are 
the radiating centers of organized social relationships. Here 
Vogue begins to establish its power. Here Tradition begins 
to lay down its sacred laws. In these centers social interests 
find their organized expression. The superior man finds here 
a way to forward his own ambitions through leadership. The 
weaker cleave to the stronger because thus they find protection 
and benefit. Finally, relationships are adjusted and the small 
groups become independent. Beginning in the differences of 
sex, at an early period of social life the division of labor causes 
the differentiation into inchoate industrial groups. As social 
classes are founded largely on industrial occupations, industrial 
specialization gives an impetus to the general organization of 
society. Yet one must not forget that some social classes grow 
up apart from occupational interests. For example, the ruling 
class springs in part from the lust for power and deference to 
the superior, the ecclesiastical from fear of the unknown, the 
secret societies so often found in primitive groups from the de- 
sire for acknowledged precedence, and those strange groups 
based on the sex taboo observed in some primitive communities, ! 
from the mystery of reproduction and its allied phenomena. 
But in all of the changes that take place society is organized 
about small voluntary groups, springing up because of apprecia- 
tion of the pleasure or advantage to be secured thereby. New 
groups are formed by a process analogous to budding, but they 
often branch off in consequence of the development of such 
motives as jealousy of the power of a leader, fear of a superior, 
consciousness of’ temperamental difference between persons and 
the clashing and occluding of interests. 

Kinship. — In primitive society the family life was very differ- 
ent from what it is at present. It was more indefinite and 
irregular. But, beginning with the sympathy of the mother 
for her offspring, the unity of the family group grew as the bonds 
of common interest multiplied. Members of the family group 
were held together primarily by kinship or blood relationship. 
Whether through the close association of the family group or 


1QOn the last see Jenks, The Bantoc Igorot; Crawley, The Mystic Rose, pp. 33- 
58. 


SOCIAL ORIGINS 57 


through the actual consciousness of blood relationship, the family 
group finally became a unit of social order. Kinship played 
an important part in all the early phases of social organization. 
Those of the same blood recognized and protected one another, 
uniting in offensive and defensive war with other tribes. Such 
temporary union grew into racial or tribal unity and led to the 
development of race aversion. 

Adoption. — But the family group enlarged in other ways 
than that of natural increase. In the warfare which occurred 
among various tribes it frequently happened that one tribe was 
conquered, broken, and scattered, and its members who sur- 
vived the shock of battle had no protection except when they 
joined themselves to other tribes. There was no state, no 
politics, no political government, but only the family or tribal 
organization. Hence, when an individual or a small family 
group was left alone, it was obliged to fight its own battles in- 
dependently or else unite with some family for protection. It 
became a common custom for conquering tribes to adopt such 
stray survivors into their own tribes, the only conditions imposed 
being that of a strict compliance with the laws and customs of 
the tribe. Thus it was that the family group enlarged con- 
tinually by natural increase and adoption. The adopted mem- 
bers became identified with the family, helping to fight its 
battles, following it through its migrations and engaging in the 
economic pursuits of the tribe. 

The Consolidation of Groups. — There were always in early 
society certain tendencies to consolidate small groups into larger 
ones. Many causes contributed to this result. Among them 
may be mentioned the external pressure of the physical environ- 
ment causing the various groups to unite for protection from 
the weather or from wild animals, the danger from stronger 
hostile groups which often forced weak groups to unite to resist 
a common enemy, the recognition of kind whereby like groups 
tended to unite and like individuals to associate with one an- 
other, and possibly, more than all, the industrial life demanding 
unity of effort. The attempt to satisfy a common hunger led 
to a common sympathy and a common codéperation. This 
unity of effort extended to other departments of life and had a 
tendency to consolidate groups which otherwise would have been 
separated and destroyed. | 


58 OUTLINES OF SOCIOLOGY 


The Origin of Language. — Probably language grew out of 
the instinctive cries andzsounds produced by primitive man 
under the stress of strong emotions excited by elemental joy, 
fear, love, and hate, or out of the sounds which he heard about 
him in a nature full of danger or beauty. These sounds became 
conventionalized and united with his facial expressions and 
gestures — his prelingual methods of conveying his thoughts 
and feelings to others. Doubtless, progress began to be rapid 
in the development of language when the satisfaction of his 
social instincts led him to play with his fellows. Out of this 
social fellowship grew the rhythmic dance and choral song. 
The excitement of the primitive dance, linked as it so often was 
with the deepest feelings he possessed, the sex and hunger im- 
pulses, the joyous exhilaration of the mock combat, the awe- 
inspiring ceremonies of tribal religion, quickened and heated the 
mind to the pitch of forging a language, which served to satisfy 
in a new way his desire for expression and at the same time tended 
to become a new sharp instrument of emotional stimulation.! 
Once language had developed under social stimulation to the 
point where signs and sounds had become independent and dis- 
tinguished in thought from the objects they designated, hu- 
manity had speech. After this achievement man was able to 
make comparatively rapid progress. While association pro- 
vided the stimulus which gave rise to speech, the latter in turn 
became a veritable fulcrum of Archimedes in lifting social life 
to a new complexity and perfection.? 

Another important step was taken when language became 
written. Beginning with “ reminders ” like sticks stuck in the 
ground or holes dug therein or cords tied in knots, or strung 
with shells to assist the minstrel or medicine man of the group 
to recall certain important events, and proceeding through 
ideograms, signs standing for ideas, such as are still used by the 
Indians of our Southwest and as they were used by the Dakota 
Indians in Schoolcroft’s time, written language developed pho- 
nograms, or signs which stood for certain phonetic values, as in 
the Chinese and especially in the Japanese language of modern 

1 Darwin, Descent of Man, Chap. XIX; Cooley, Social Organization, pp. 66-72. 

On the development of animal language and its relation to human speech, see 
Romanes, Mental Evolution in Man; Origin of Human Faculty, pp. 51 ff., 163 ff. 


For the connection of the origin of speech with social excitement see Giddings, 
Principles of Sociology, pp. 222-225. 


SOCIAL ORIGINS 59 


times and in the ancient Egyptian language. The Phcenicians 
borrowed from the Egyptians certain of these phonograms, 
attached to them simple sounds and combined them variously 
in the different words in use and thus gave the world an alphabet. 
These probably in a general way are the steps in the develop- 
ment: “ reminder,” ideogram, phonogram, and letter. Written 
language had even greater importance for humanity in its 
social development than spoken language.’ 

Language has always fulfilled an important function in social. 
organization. Through it as a means of communication the 
small group has been developed and strengthened and other 
groups have been united. People of similar languages are 
attracted towards one another, while those of foreign languages 
have a tendency to repel one another. The difficulty of estab- 
lishing social order among diverse groups of people, speaking 
different languages and having diversity of thought and senti- 
ment, is very great. Even now this difficulty of socialization 
is observed in our large American cities with their heterogeneous 
populations. But though in such cases language causes sepa- 
ration, it originally caused association. It is the attempt to 
communicate thought that gives birth to language. One who 
seeks for the origin of society will find one of its causes and one 
of its effects in the action and reaction of language. — 

Physical Pressure.— Another of the important causes of 
the rise of social groups is the pressure of physical nature on the 
population. Apart from the fact that the food supply caused 
people to assemble in the localities where food was most plenti- 
ful and most easily obtained, the influences of climate and the 
physical surface of the earth forced people into groups. Wan- 
dering along the rivers in pursuit of fish and game, men came 
into contact with one another and learned to dwell together. 
The mountain ranges stayed their migrations and caused a 
denser population on their slopes or in the adjacent valleys. 
The shores of the ocean and inland seas and lakes caused them 
to pause for long periods and finally to establish permanent 


1 For a brief survey of the steps in the development of writing see Starr, Some 
First Steps in Human Progress, Chap. XXI. One of the earliest valuable contribu- 
tions to the knowledge of the development of speech and writing was Tylor, Anthro- 
pology, Chaps. IV-VII. Perhaps the most incisive and discriminating discussions 
of the importance of the development of language on social development is sup- 
plied by Cooley, Social Organization, pp. 68-79. 


60 OUTLINES OF SOCIOLOGY 


homes. Violent storms caused them to seek shelter in caves 
where early associations were formed, and the ice flow from the 
north caused the population to assemble in the southern valleys. 
Thus the influence of physical nature everywhere tends to favor 
the aggregation of men and their association. | 

Social Pressure. — The movement of tribes and races over 
the earth has caused the extinction of some, the breaking up of 
others, but the consolidation of still others. The pressure of 
nomad tribes on the ancient civilization of the various Aryan 
groups in Europe, of the Huns upon the Teutons, of the various 
Greek and Roman tribes upon one another, caused a closer 
social union among the survivors of the struggle. This pressure 
forces the growth of social institutions as a hothouse forces the 
growth of plants. These institutions are the result of new ideas, 
the result of the group consciousness struggling with new situ- 
ations forced upon it by the pressure of a hostile group. Two 
of many historic illustrations may be cited to show this. When 
the white man reached America and began to settle in the North 
Atlantic region, two great groups of Indians were struggling 
for the possession of the Atlantic seaboard and the fertile valleys 
which led down to it. The Algonquins were pressing down from 
Canada upon the Iroquois already in possession of these places. 
One result was a confederation known as the league of the 
Troquois. An organization was devised whereby the various 
independent tribes were welded together for defensive purposes. 
A great development was taking place within these tribes when 
the coming of the whites interrupted the process. Another 
example may be seen in the Norman conquest of England. The 
more or less loosely organized elements of the British popula- 
tion, consisting of the ancient population elements, Celts, Angles, 
Saxons, and Danes, fused somewhat already in the early Saxon 
kingdoms and then developing under Danish rule into a larger 
and more solid organization, were finally welded into a demotic 
unity and a strongly organized whole under the Normans and 
their successors. The process culminated under the Tudors 
and early Stuarts. During the course of this development 
social structures were greatly multiplied in number. The 
aggregation of unlike population elements resulting in class 
conflicts forced the development of agencies of domination, 
status, and toleration. The instruments of justice, like the 


SOCIAL ORIGINS 61 


courts, were improved, all kinds of judicial machinery were 
invented like the jury, grand and petit. The laws were greatly 
multiplied and changed to meet new conditions. Even the 
common law, the child of custom, was greatly elaborated. 
Every form of social life underwent readjustment. Social 
devices of all sorts multiplied.) 

Common Ethical Sentiment. — The union of various groups 
of people always depends to a considerable extent upon the 
existence of a common ethical sentiment, for ethics are deeply 
rooted in the emotions. In the beginning of society, as now, 
feeling played a much more important réle than reason. The 
sociological ‘basis of morality is custom. Custom is rooted in 
the feelings and in that mighty social force, social approbation. 
Therefore, tribal customs touching the relationship of man with 
man would tend to repel groups with different moral codes and 
attract those with similar. 

The importance of moral sentiments in the formation of social 
groups rests on the fact that the moral codes of primitive peoples 
are very rigid and exacting, and therefore play a great part in 
the socializing process which makes for group unity. Hence, 
the origin of morality is of importance in any study of the origins 
of society. 

Morality had one of its roots in mother love. At first it was 
purely instinctive, probably caused by blind natural selection. 
As such it brought in the wake of its manifestation its own emo- 
tional reward and thus became established in the feelings and 
habits of the creature. 

The social root of actions which may come to have a moral 
value is to be found in custom, by which is meant an act adopted 
and practiced by a group of people.2, Out of some customs grow 
moral acts. Which actions shall become customary, and which 
of the customary actions of a group shall become moral in their 
nature depends upon social considerations arising from the so- 
cial life of the group rather than upon legal or economic consid- 
erations. 

How an act may come to be customary and then moral may 
be illustrated best by a concrete example. A group of primitive 


1 For many of the facts of this illustration the writers are indebted to unpublished 


lectures by Professor Giddings. 
2 See Wundt, Principles of Morality: Facts of the Moral Life, Chap, ITI. 


62 OUTLINES OF SOCIOLOGY 


people come face to face with a new experience such as a pesti- 
lence or a famine. At once individuals in that group begin to 
struggle with the problem of how to avert the calamity. In 
the individuals’ minds psychologically there arises the stress and 
tension induced by fear in the presence of a new danger. The 
tendency of the human mind under such conditions is to relieve 
itself by motor reactions of some kind. Instead of anticipating 
the modern adage, “‘ When you don’t know what to do, do 
nothing,”’ the primitive mind tends to do something — or any- 
thing. What shall be the act which is to relieve the emotional 
tension depends much upon the character of the minds com- 
posing that group, and upon their previous experiences — what 
they did in previous more or less similar cases. Or, in the 
absence of any similar experiences some one will do the first 
thing that suggests itself to him as in any way appropriate. 
Others may follow his example. Perhaps the families of these 
men do not die. After the danger is past what they did is re- 
called, it is related to others and becomes a part of the group’s 
traditions. In any recurrence of the same or a like danger this 
act will be performed by many imitators. Thus it will become 
established in the customs of that group. It is a psychological 
fact that custom, mere groupal habit, will soon attract to itself 
certain very definite and strong emotions, and these emotions 
will be strengthened when the act becomes traditional, fostered 
by forceful and dogmatic personalities and associated in the 
common consciousness with group safety. 

Again, since some religious practices have their roots in similar 
emotional tensions,! the custom often will be adopted by re- 
ligion and be still further strengthened by coming under re- 
ligiously dominating influences such as the fear of punishment 
or the hope of reward by supernatural beings. In all such ways 
may custom be established. 

Whether a customary action was considered moral, immoral, 
or unmoral was determined by such considerations as the rela- 
tions of the act to the welfare of the group, and the relations of 
certain instincts of the individuals to the traditions of the group. 
The falling away of certain individuals from fixed customary 
standards aroused ethical questions. ‘This is in accordance with 


1King, Development of Religion, pp. 54, 101. For a slightly different emphasis 
see Wundt, Principles of Morality; Facts of the Moral Life, pp. 134-139. 


SOCIAL ORIGINS 63 


the law of mental development, that matters come to our knowl- 
edge by our first becoming aware of the incongruity between 
the feelings we have enjoyed in the presence of the usual and 
the feelings aroused when the smooth current of our conscious- 
ness has been disturbed by the unusual. Therefore, originally 
morality was chiefly negative: ‘Thou shalt not” do this 
or that. Primitive life is largely a life of privation, a constant 
struggle against the forces of nature, against wild animals and 
hostile men. Suffering was the common lot. It was an econ- 
omy of pain.!. Hence, primitive ethics and primitive religion 
stressed negative acts of self-deprivation and suffering. This 
tendency, moreover, was in entire accord with the necessity of 
repressing the individual in the interests of the group. Only 
after the group had become consolidated and unified to a certain 
degree was it safe to emphasize and encourage individual acts 
positive, independent, and original in their nature. Such acts 
again were connected psychologically with the partiality of the 
mother for her child, leading her to sacrifice herself for its bene- 
fit, and strengthened by the fact that after a certain social de- 
‘velopment had been reached they were of advantage for the 
survival of the group, so that they finally became sanctioned 
by the whole group. Thus moral sentiment expressed itself in 
positive acts, and morality became conscious and rational.? 

Beginning thus with self-sacrifice for the young, the altruistic 
act extended to self-sacrifice for the wider kindred within the 
group, then further with the growing consciousness of kind so 
as to include the nation, the Kingdom of God, and the whole 
world. 

Origin of Public Control.— Leadership is implied in all 
movements of mankind where there is human concerted ac- 
tion. It may be only temporary or accidental leadership, but 
it must exist under all circumstances except where men are moved 
to act by common impulse. Wherever, then, there is social 
order there will be, to a certain degree, leadership. Whether the 
leader is the head of the household, the medicine man, the man 
rich in cattle and land, as in ancient Ireland, the chief of the tribe, 
or the temporary war chief, who leads the host in battle, social 

1 Patten, Theory of the Social Forces, pp. 75-80. 


See Ward, Pure Sociology, pp. 187-188. Cf. Ross, Social Control, Chaps. 
XXV, XXVI. 


64 OUTLINES OF SOCIOLOGY 


order is established in proportion as leadership becomes strong 
and permanent. As social development proceeds, leadership 
becomes more varied in its fields. At first the leader was only 
the strong man, or the man of superior cunning, as the medicine 
man. Out from these crude beginnings of social leadership, 
however, in response to growing complexity of social interests 
and specialization of functions sprang leadership in many lines 
of activity. Eventually this leadership may develop into a 
kingship, a parliament, a council, or a constitution; or into 
fashions and crazes; into educational, economic, and social ortho- 
doxies; into vogues, philosophies, modes of thought, and vari- 
eties of the Zeitgeist; but it must appear somewhere as a repre- 
sentative of social authority. It becomes a great power for 
consolidating and unifying the group, tribe, or nation and then 
for enriching the social life of the particular group. 

The Beginning of Justice. — While the establishment of 
justice is not the primary cause of social amalgamation, yet 
once the group has been established, it certainly hastens the 
process of socialization. In fact, wherever we find social order 
appearing there is an opportunity for the development of civil 
justice, for people cannot associate on a common basis without 
some means of enforcing justice. The social elements act and 
react against one another blindly before formal justice is es- 
tablished. Conflicts arise between individuals in the group 
which must be settled. At first might makes right — the 
stronger man overpowers his antagonist and makes a decision 
from his own standpoint. But soon civil justice brings in a third 
party who adjusts the relations between the two, allotting to 
each man his just dues. ‘The first stirrings of a sense of social 
justice may even be observed in a herd of animals when one 
bullying member finally attracts the attention of a number of 
the herd who unite in meting out punishment to the offender 
and so secure a form of justice between the two individuals 
primarily involved. In the human group the origins are much 
more complex. Here the brute strength, impartial judgment, 
and finer sympathy of a third individual are supplemented by 
the weight of tradition as to moral rights and duties and the 
usages more or less applicable to the dispute, and by an apprecia- 
tion of the necessity of smoothing out differences that imperil 
the welfare of the group. Moreover, the increased appreciation 


SOCIAL ORIGINS 65 


of leadership and the growth of moral sentiments in even the 
lowest savages make for increased deference to the decision of 
the third party. Like moral sentiment justice began within 
the group. Within the confines of a blood-kindred would the 
moral sense first express itself most naturally and easily. Special 
impetus to the tendencies just noticed to secure formal means 
of settling disputes doubtless was given by the danger from a 
hostile group. | 

The Force of War. — Perhaps no other visible agency has 
accomplished so many and such great changes in the progress of 
society as war. Conflict of individuals has led to strength of 
individual character, just as conflict between tribes has led to 
social strength. True they may both end in the destruction 
of one or both parties, but those who survive are made stronger 
to cope with the opposing elements of social life. War has 
destroyed individuals, tribes, nations. Millions of lives and 
countless treasures have been sacrificed to war, and yet through 
it have developed many of the finer qualities of life. Through 
it man has been taught to obey the will of the stronger; through 
it he has been taught not to abuse the weak. War is great in 
discipline, preparing wild or savage people for the conduct of 
civil government. It is one of the most important factors in 
accounting for the origin of many social institutions.! War, how- 
ever, gave rise to a firmer social structure chiefly by a rough- 
hewing selective process which threw out all unsound material, 
and, as Ward has shown,? by so multiplying social contacts 
between alien peoples as to stimulate the growth of rigid social 
structures. It was especially important in securing the transi- 
tion from an ethnic to a civil society.2 On the other hand, in 
mutual aid, we have a social beginning of great importance.‘ 
Arising in the animal group by natural selection mutual aid 
developed in the kinship group by reason of the heightened 
social pleasure it provided, and was firmly established in the war 
measures invented against enemies of the group. 

1See Ward, Pure Sociology, pp. 202-215. 

2 Ward, Pure Sociology, pp. 193, 215. 

3 The best exposition of war’s connection with this important step is by Giddings, 
Descriptive and Historical Sociology, pp. 473-480. 

4For a detailed presentation of the part which mutual helpfulness has played 
in the beginnings of society see Kropotkin, Mutual Aid, A Factor in Evolution. 


Cf. Ward, Pure Sociology, pp. 201, 202, 215, 216. For a corrective discussion of 
Kropotkin, see Parmelee, The Science of Human Behavior, pp. 404-406. 


F 


66 OUTLINES OF SOCIOLOGY 


REFERENCES 


BRINTON, DANIEL G. The Basis of Soctal Relations, pp. 163-201. 

CHAPIN, F.S. An Introduction to Social Evolution. 

DaRwIN, CHARLES. The Descent of Man, Chap. IV. 

DucxwortH, W.L.H. Prehistoric Man, New York, 1912, Chaps. I, II. 

Ey, R. T. Evolution of Industrial Society, Chaps. I, II. 

Grippincs, F.H. Principles of Sociology, pp. 199-356. 

Grppincs, F. H. ‘‘A Theory of Social Causation,” Publications of the 
American Economic Association, Third Series, Vol. V., or Descriptive and 
Historical Readings in Sociology, pp. 118-121. 

Ross, E. A. Social Control, Chap. I. 

TuHomas, W.I. Source Book for Social Origins. 

TOPINARD, PAUL. Science and Faith, pp. 60-173. 

WarD, LESTER F. Dynamic Sociology, Vol. I., Chap. VII. 


QUESTIONS AND EXERCISES 


1. Why should the student of sociology study social origins? 

2. After reading Duckworth, Chaps. I and II, write a description of the 
probable physical appearance of the earliest man of which we have any 
remains. 

3. What are the fundamental social institutions the origins of which go 
back to a very early time in the history of man? 

4. Trace back to its beginnings in outline, one modern social institution, 
such as language. 

5. What is the importance of language in the development of society? 

6. Observe a group of animals, such as a herd of cattle in the pasture, 
and write a description of the society which they form. (Before writing this 
exercise read Darwin, Descent of Man, Chap. IV.) 

7. How does a human horde differ from an animal herd? 

8. Put down in tabular form the chief causes of the coming together of 
human beings into groups. 

g. Read Giddings, A Theory of Social Causation, and state briefly the 
ways in which the physical environment affects the formation of human 
societies. 

10. Name the agencies which originate common ethical sentiments in 
your home community. 

11. What bearing on the peace movement has the view of war presented 
in the text? 


CHAPTER II 
THE LAND AND ITS PEOPLE 


Physical Nature and Social Development.— In the last 
chapter reference was made to the influence of physical nature 
on the origin of society. It is still more influential on social 
development. Everywhere we find man’s possibilities limited 
by the conditions of his physical environment. It would almost 
seem as 1f man sprang out of the soil, so great is his dependence 
upon it. Always the lines of his development are determined 
in part by the nature of his contact with the soil, and his social 
progress is measured by his effective mastery of the forces of 
nature. For early man at least the character of social life is 
determined primarily by the manner in which the group at- 
taches itself to the land. The compactly organized Oriental 
tribe that wanders in the desert is very different from the Teu- 
tonic village community, and the manorial group very different 
from the community settled in the United States on small inde- 
pendent farms. ‘The prevalence of great estates means a peas- 
ant population and possibly a race of serfs. 

Just what influence physical environment has upon intellectual 
and social development is a matter of controversy. Some, for 
example, Montesquieu and von Treitschke, have thought that 
climate and the topography of the country affect a people 
directly. The former thought frankness was produced by cold 
climates, the latter that the difference in artistic temperament 
between Switzerland and other Alpine regions and the more 
level regions of Swabia, Franconia, and Thuringia was due to 
the paralyzing effect of majestic mountains upon the minds of 
men. Buckle, Spencer, Ellen Semple, Giddings, and others 
have seen that the problem is not so simple.! 


1 For a good brief review of the steps in the development of the conception of the 
influence of physical environment on a people see Giddings, ‘‘A Theory of Social 
Causation,” Publications of the American Economic Association, Third Series, Vol. 
Ve Noranpp: 1517 552: 


67 


68 OUTLINES OF SOCIOLOGY 


The Conflict with Nature. — Everywhere and at all times 
man appears to be in conflict with nature. He struggles against 
the wild animals of the forest, exterminating or subduing them; 
he seeks to avoid the winter’s cold or summer’s heat; he wrests 
from the forest, the stream, and the soil his means of subsist- 
ence. He turns the forces of nature from his destruction to 
his salvation. Water power and wind, steam and electricity 
finally become his servants. On the other hand, he is attacked 
by parasites and germs of disease. The deadly microbe causes 
his perpetual warfare for its extermination. ‘Two theories pre- 
vail among philosophers, one that nature is niggardly and harsh; 
the other that she is bounteous and generous. There is truth 
in both. By his intelligence man arranges his life in conformity 
with the regularities of nature and by his effort he forces nature 
to yield her treasures. Nature is bounteous in the supply of 
all man’s needs if only by intelligent effort he compels her to 
open her treasure house. Certainly the medial statement is 
true, that all man’s wants are supplied from nature through in- 
telligent and well-directed effort. 

Character of the Land and the Development of Society. — 
By “land” is meant land, air, and water — the physical en- 
vironment. Climate, soil, and humidity determine whether 
there shall be any society at all. Nine tenths of the globe’s 
surface is not suitable for man’s occupation. Parts of it are 
water, other parts are too high in altitude, some lack water, 
others have an impossible climate, and still others lack the plant 
food which we call fertility of soil. 

One has but to reflect in order to appreciate how important 
are the influences of the physiography upon man and his social 
development. Oceans and mountain ranges have great in- 
fluence upon climate. One ocean current makes Labrador, 
with the same latitude as England, uninhabitable, while another 
has made it possible for England to be an important seat of 
Western civilization. The contour of a coast together with 
an ocean current and the effects of ocean tides may make a 
harbor of one place while destroying the entrance to another. 
Mountain barriers, on the one hand, and rivers, the natural 
highways, on the other, determine the direction in which an 
inflowing tide of immigrants shall go. Witness the directions 
taken by the barbarian invasions of Europe. Moreover, it is 


THE LAND AND ITS PEOPLE 69 


probable that those invasions were started partly by physical 
causes, the drying up of the central plateaus of Asia.! Coast 
lines much indented by the sea, thus offering harbors and abun- 
dant opportunities for man to reach the interior easily, have 
much to do with social development. Minor features of topog- 
raphy, such as lakes, waterfalls, mountain passes, cafions, 
and fertile plains, have determined where settlements of men 
should occur. Valleys, like rivers, are natural highways of 
communication. One has only to look at a map of our own 
country to see how important has been the influence exerted 
upon American society by the physical factors.? 

Moreover, the primary and secondary sources of subsistence, 
as Giddings, following Buckle, calls them, have much to do in 
determining where human settlement shall occur and, to a degree 
the character of the society man creates.3 Out of these physical 
conditions grew man’s economic relations, his social attach- 
ments, and many of his interests and animosities, forces so 
important to human society. 

Man Touches Nature at an Increasing Number of Points. — 
In primitive society life was simple and the wants of man were 
supplied from a few sources of nature. But as civilization ad- 
vanced man continually came in contact with nature at an 
increasing number of points. Thus, in primitive life when man 
obtained his subsistence from roots and berries, his shelter from 
rocks and caves, and his clothing from rushes and leaves, his 
command of the resources of nature was very slight. During 
all this period he was at the mercy of the elements. Subse- 
quently when he had learned to hunt and to domesticate animals, 
and when the women had learned to keep a fire, other great 
steps forward were taken, but when he obtained a permanent 
relation to the soil and developed agriculture, he added to the 
momentum of his progress a thousand-fold. In the history of 
the race man has advanced the practical arts of civilization 
exactly in proportion as he multiplied the number of points of 


1 Kropotkin, Mutual Aid, A Factor in Evolution, New York, 1904, pp. 118-119. 
Pumpelly, Explorations in Turkestan, Vol. I, pp. 13, 16. Huntington, E., The Pulse 
of Asia, pp. 106-132. 

2 Gregory, Keller, and Bishop, Physical and Commercial Geography, Chaps. I-IX. 
Spencer, Principles of Sociology, Secs. 6-21. 

8 Giddings, Descriptive and Historical Sociology, p. 68. Buckle, History of Civiliza- 
tion in England, Chap. II, quoted in Carver, Sociology and Social Progress, Chap. X. 


70 OUTLINES OF SOCIOLOGY 


contact with nature, and utilized the possibilities of this contact 
for his advantage. The use of the streams and the seas for 
transportation, of the winds for propelling ships, of water power 
for turning machinery, of steam power in its numerous and 
extensive offices, of electricity in all of its varied services, of 
the commercial value of minerals, and of new articles of food 
made him independent. ‘These things give evidence of the fact 
that man’s progress is due to the utilization of all the forces and 
materials of nature. The story of civilization has been one of 
more and more complete understanding of nature, of man’s 
adaptation to nature, and therefore the more perfect subjection 
of her powers for man’s benefit. 

Attachment to the Soil. — Beginning with a very loose at- 
tachment to the soil, man has come to an ownership of the soil 
in fee simple. At first the primitive man owned no land. It 
was merely the hunting ground of the group; each individual 
member of the group took from it what he wanted. There 
was only group ownership and for the wandering, pastoral Bedouin 
tribes that was so loose that it was often disputed. The group 
was here to-day and there to-morrow. Ownership focused now 
about a well-watered old glacial delta in a rapidly drying-up 
plateau, as in the case of the long-buried cities so recently 
brought to light in Eastern Turkestan,! now about a spring in 
a desert, as in the Arabia of the Nomads, and again about a ~ 
clearing in the forest or a tun or hill easily defended. The pas- 
toral or tillable land about this center was the group’s posses- 
sion so long as they could hold it by force. That was the be- 
ginning of a closer attachment to the soil. Feudal agrarian 
relations grew up partly on the basis of pastoral feudalism and 
partly on the newly developed emphasis upon cultivation of the 
soil.” 

Through his permanent attachment to the soil man was 
enabled to develop a distinct and separate class of social services. 
It aided the tendency already strong towards the segregation of 
families into separate permanent homes and thus developed 
family life, which furnished the strongest element in social 
order. The close proximity of more people than could possibly 


1Pumpelly, Explorations in Turkestan, Vol. I. 
* Giddings, Readings in Descriptive and Historical Sociology, pp. 467-473, and 
Elements of Sociology, pp. 267-269. 


THE LAND AND ITS PEOPLE 71 


be supported by pastoral industry taught respect for mutual 
rights and established duties, for higher socialization takes place 
only when people are brought into close personal relationship. 
Under such circumstances custom changes into law; powers of 
government become differentiated and established; the division 
of labor in industry prevails; and society is divided into inter- 
dependent groups, each having a common relationship with 
the general social body. But so important is this attachment 
to the soil in determining the character of civilization that its 
history would reveal the fundamental characteristics of social 
life. Thus the tribal method of occupation, the village com- 
munity, the feudal system, the manorial system, and the owner- 
ship of land in fee simple, are so many different economic bases 
of social relationships. 

The Various Uses of Land.— In man’s choice of land the 
three chief considerations are position, fertility, and mineral 
products. The first has reference to situation and also to sheer 
standing room. The relation of the population to the soil and 
its distribution give rise to many distinct social phenomena. 
It would seem at first thought that there would be ample room 
for the millions that inhabit the globe, but their distribution and 
the means of support afforded by natural features and resources 
cause the population to arrange itself in various centers, press- 
ing more and more together on certain small territories until at 
length such cities as New York and Chicago are formed. This 
crowding of the population into congested groups has a vast 
influence in the development of social relationships. Villages 
in fertile valleys, the great cities of manufacture and trade, and 
the mining towns that spring up in a single night are made by 
people attracted by the lure of commonly appreciated advantages 
there to be found. The result of this is increased land values 
rising in some instances to enormous figures. Thus the land on 
lower Broadway in New York sells for hundreds of dollars per 
square foot simply because there is demand for it by many people 
for commercial and social purposes. On the other hand, in the 
Far West hundreds of acres may be bought for the price of a 
single foot on Broadway. 

Because man may obtain from the soil the means whereby 
he may satisfy his wants, he seeks to possess it. Grain, vege- 
tables, and live stock for food, trees and forests for houses and 


72 OUTLINES OF SOCIOLOGY 


furniture and various mechanical uses are all yielded from the 
riches of the soil. Likewise man obtains from beneath the soil 
gold and silver, iron and coal, and all the minerals for mechani- 
cal services. Thus a general human demand for the products of 
certain soils causes the aggregation of population and brings all 
types of society into accord with the uses made of the soil and 
its products. Every increase in population which causes an 
increase in demand for the products of the land augments the 
value of land and often leads to changes in the uses to which it 
is put. 

Increase of Population.— In primitive society tribes were 
obliged to go where the food supply existed, and consequently 
when a tribe exhausted the food supply there was division, 
colonization, or migration. The increase in the food supply 
by the use of a new variety of food frequently changed condi- 
tions so that it was not necessary to migrate. The same effect 
was produced by the discovery of processes by which some 
natural product hitherto not fit for food could be used for food. 
Such a discovery was the use of fire by primitive man in the 
preparation of food. By that means not only was food made 
more palatable and more easily digested, as in the case of meats, 
thus releasing energy for social purposes, but it increased the 
food value of many products, such as the starchy foods, and 
rendered edible others which up until then had been almost, if 
not entirely, worthless as food.! Moreover, with the adoption 
of agriculture food supplies were increased. Domestication of 
animals leading gradually to breeding for a definite purpose 
was another step which increased the food supply and made 
certain semi-desert parts of the earth’s surface available for 
human habitation. The development of transportation and 
the practice of exchanging the products of one part of the world 
for those of another part have further increased the ability of 
the world to support a larger population. New inventions, 
furthermore, in agriculture, stock breeding, and in manufacture, 
new methods of organization both on farm and in factory, have 
further increased the available food supply. These, and many 
similar facts, also explain the concentration of ever larger ag- 
gregations of people in one small area, as in New York and 


1Spencer, Principles of Sociology, Sec. 26. Starr, Some First Steps in Human 
Progress, Chap. III. 


THE LAND AND ITS PEOPLE 73 


London, because each draws its sustenance from a large ter- 
ritory. If the population of New York City was limited for 
its food supply to the territory within one hundred miles, most 
of its people would starve within a few months. 

The Efforts to Satisfy Wants the Basis of Society. — Many 
different theories have been advanced regarding the basis of 
society. Some have tried to establish kinship or blood rela- 
tionship as the foundation. Others have insisted that the race 
idea, which is only an extension of this, is the formal basis of 
society. Again, others have held that religion is the great 
motive resulting in the establishment of huge social bodies. 
Some others have held that conflict is the cause of social develop- 
ment, and still others that social contact is the basis of society. 
It must be apparent, however, that man is moved in social 
matters by two sets of factors, physical conditions either limit- 
ing or stimulating his organism, and emotional impulses arising 
from within his own organism, stimulated and given direction 
by the environing physical and social influences. Two great 
physical instincts man possesses in common with all animals, 
the hunger and the sex instincts. The physical environment 
plays an important part in giving direction to his activities. 
He has been forced here and there by physical influences and 
through their operation he has found himself associated with 
his fellows who were influenced in a similar manner. For ex- 
ample, the storm causes people to seek the same shelter, the 
stream draws them to the same spot, and they meet on the best 
hunting ground. In seeking to satisfy hunger and to avoid the 
discomforts of inclement weather, primitive men were forced 
together, sometimes into companies. ‘The sex instinct and the 
desire for companionship operated powerfully upon primitive 
men to cause them to congtegate together. Where they should 
gather depended largely upon physical conditions. Without 
forgetting that sometimes a land poor in food supplies forced 
men to separate into small groups, watercourses, teeming lakes 
and rivers, game-filled forests, and plains strewn with herds of 
animals good for food were attractions which often caused 
primitive men to converge. Mountain barriers, deserts, and 
broad seas determined bounds beyond which even hunted men 
could not go. Ever acting with the impulse of hunger were the 
social instincts, —the attraction of the novel in sex and the mys- 


74 OUTLINES OF SOCIOLOGY 


terious but alluring adventure of establishing companionship 
with the unknown stranger more or less like himself. Aggre- 
gations were thus easily formed, impelled by such instincts, 
and by the favoring influence of climate and soil, mountain, 
stream, and ocean. 

The Survival of the Social Group. — The character of the 
group, however, is always dependent to a considerable degree 
upon the nature of the country within which it has been formed. 
The ultimate determinant of the composition of a group of people 
is the physical characteristics of the place where people con- 
gregate and form in social groups of a permanent character. 
In their bearing upon the nature of the social groups naturally 
nurtured by them the various physical environments may be 
divided into four different kinds, as pointed out by Giddings, 
viz., a poorly endowed region isolated by natural barriers, one 
poorly endowed but easy of access and egress, a richly endowed 
but isolated region and one richly endowed and readily acces- 
sible. In the first the population will be formed by the natural 
birth rate rather than by immigration and therefore will be 
relatively homogeneous in blood. Whether it increases will 
depend on the relation of the birth rate to the death rate. In 
the second kind of country the vigorous, alert spirits will emi- 
grate, but there will be few immigrants. The population, again, 
will be homogeneous in blood. In both cases there will be little 
or no group conflict, the result of intermixture. The tendency 
in the population in the first case will be inbreeding, but with 
a slower deterioration than in the latter ; in the latter rather rapid 
degeneration both in stock and in culture will occur. Examples 
of the first may be seen in Greenland, Central Thibet, and Cen- 
tral Australia, and of the latter in many of the New England 
rural districts whence the former inhabitants emigrated to 
better lands. In the third kind of environment, such as is ex- 
emplified in the Hawaiian Islands and Central Africa, one finds 
again a genetic group of one blood, but large in numbers. It is 
a variety of this kind of environment which has furnished the 
migrations of history. Let such an environment change its 
character by reason of either a gradual desiccation or of a sudden 


1 Giddings, ‘“‘A Theory of Social Causation,” Publications of the American Eco- 
nomic Association, Third Series, Vol, V No. 2, pp. 151, 152; Descriptive and Historical 
Sociology, pp. 68, 118-121. 


THE LAND AND ITS PEOPLE 715 


failure of crops, and the sturdier and more restless elements of 
the population will surge forth in search of better habitats. 
The fourth kind of environment, typified by such regions as the 
Nile valley, the Shenendoah valley of Virginia, and the fertile 
fields of our own Gulf States, or better still the great Mississippi 
valley, attracts people from everywhere. This makes for a 
highly mixed population, made up of the strongest and most 
venturesome spirits from all parts of the world. 

After the social group had been fully formed so that it had a 
permanent identity and its numbers had increased sufficiently 
to crowd its habitat, it began its career of struggle for the soil 
with other groups. If the group represented a vigorous racial 
stock and was successful in locating under favorable circum- 
stances, it had many opportunities for survival. The larger 
and stronger group was, by its vigor and foresight, sure to locate 
in the best territory. However, if through accident a strong 
racial stock was forced to remain for a period of time under 
less favorable circumstances, the opportunities for success were 
much decreased. On the other hand, if a race lacking in vigor 
of body or in intellect should locate in the most fertile district 
and with the most favorable environment, the opportunities for 
survival would be even less than that of the vigorous race, which 
settled under unfavorable circumstances, because the well- 
directed effort of man is the prime factor in his survival. Hence, 
where a race of low vitality locates on a barren soil or is thrust 
back on poor hunting grounds its chance for survival is very 
small. The history of races shows how thousands of these 
groups are thrust aside by stronger races and perish, leaving no 
record of civilization. The results of land occupation, therefore, 
will depend largely on the size and activity of the social group 
which settles upon it. If the group be strong and vigorous, it 
moves more rapidly in subduing nature and bringing to its 
support her various bounties. 

The Natural Races. — Everywhere we find in contrast the 
so-called natural races and the civilized races. By natural 
races we mean those which have not reached any high degree of 
civilization, although some of them may have the capacity for 
progress. Wherever races have developed and become civilized 
they have met in their migrations these natural races. Whether 
in Europe, Asia, or Africa, the migrations of the stronger tribes 


76 OUTLINES OF SOCIOLOGY 


have encountered a population of lower grade. The American 
continent was covered with these natural races which had not 
yet entered the pale of civilization when the Europeans landed 
there. Some of them, like the Peruvians, the Aztecs, the 
Pueblos, the Cliff Dwellers, and the Mound Builders, have left 
some records of the beginnings of culture,' Art and industry, 
religion and government had been developed to a considerable 
extent, but a great majority of the living tribes of the New World 
were either stationary or degenerating at the time of their first 
contact with European races. They occupied intermittently 
nearly all the land areas of America. They used them mostly 
for hunting purposes, so that their land tenure was of a very 
primitive sort, usually consisting of nothing more than tem- 
porary occupancy. ‘Tribal ownership prevailed with the excep- 
tion that in some small villages a family had the right, for 
the time being, to the soil on which it built its wigwam or hut. 
However, the beginnings of a settled agriculture were made 
among some of them, and the evolution of political organization 
was developing when the coming of the whites stopped the pro- 
cess of evolution. For example, the Iroquois, and probably 
some of the other American Indians, had developed a gentile 
confederacy of tribes.2, They were undergoing the transforma- 
tions through which the Greek tribes had gone in the prehistoric 
period. Had they been permitted to continue their develop- 
ment without interruption by the whites, it is probable that they 
would have developed, after a time, a civilization of a high type. 
The achievements of some of the Central and South American 
tribes in architecture certainly point in that direction. 

During a long period the tribes continued to migrate or kept 
changing their locations. However, there was not so much real 
migration as is generally supposed, because the tribes had two 
methods of occupation. One was the territory where their 
villages, pasture lands, and permanent hunting grounds were 
located, and the other was the territory claimed by them for 
hunting purposes. At different seasons of the year they were 
found going from their villages to these hunting grounds and 
back. It was out of contention over these less permanent abodes 


1 National Geographic Magazine, Vol. XXI, pp. 596-621, 1002-1020; Vol. XXIV, 
PP. 315-338, 403-573. 
2 Morgan, Ancient Society, New York, 1878, Chap. V. 


THE LAND AND ITS PEOPLE rie 


that most of the Indian wars originated. In the migrations of 
tribes, often when the stronger invaded the territory of the 
weaker, the former settled down in tribal ownership of the soil, 
which it held for the good of all. This is true even among semi- 
civilized groups like the early Greeks, the Romans, or the 
Teutons, in their migrations. 

Habitable Land Areas. — The lands of the world are con- 
sidered either habitable or uninhabitable, but these are really 
relative terms, for the habitability of land areas depends upon 
the stage of civilization and the standard of life prevailing 
in the various countries of the world. There are unoccupied 
territories that could be made to support a meager population. 
Many low tribes lead a miserable existence on certain barren 
soils or on inferior hunting grounds. Some of the arid land west 
of the Mississippi River, generally considered uninhabitable, has 
been subdued and utilized through the science and indomitable 
efforts of a civilized race. The territory of New England sup- 
ports a high civilization largely on account of the character and 
energy of the people who brought with them the arts and in- 
dustries of a civilized life. Many of the mountain ranges and 
their approaches will not permit a thickly settled population 
and, indeed, in some instances, practically forbid the permanent 
habitation of man. On the other hand, the fertile valleys of 
the Mississippi and of other great rivers permit a gradually 
increasing population of great density. Mankind is constantly 
searching out such fertile spots and developing all their resources 
to support a large population. 

The Settlement of Tribes.— The Indian tribes of North 
America had spread over nearly the whole territory. The great 
Algonquin tribe occupied nearly the whole of British America 
and extended into the boundaries of the United States, covering 
the New England states and the northern Mississippi valley ; 
the Iroquois tribes occupied New York and a part of North Caro- 
lina, Tennessee, South Carolina, and Georgia. On the eastern 
slope of the Rocky Mountains was the great Siouan tribe, and 
the southwestern part of the United States was occupied by 
the Shoshonean tribe. The Athapascans occupied the north- 
western part of North America and a part of the territory in 
the extreme southwest of the United States. 

Other tribes were located on different territories of the United 


78 OUTLINES OF SOCIOLOGY 


States, a large number of them clustering along the Pacific 
coast. They all showed the effects of migrations and wars in 
the struggle for territory. While they occupied large areas their 
centers of population were along the streams and in the fertile 
valleys, following, like civilized man, the sources of food supply 
and the natural lines of travel. Very few of this vast body of 
natives could be considered sedentary. Most of them were 
located in Arizona and New Mexico. Possibly also a few of the 
Iroquois tribe and some of the ancient Mound Builders in the 
southern part of the United States occupied permanent habita- 
tions. When the Europeans came to America their migrations 
followed the same natural routes as those followed by the 
natives. Their most densely populated groups were located 
in the districts most densely populated by the Indians. The 
streams were followed, the valleys occupied, and subsequently 
the great plains. 

In view, however, of the extensive migrations by individuals 
which have occurred in the last one hundred years among civi- 
lized nations one is tempted to say that the movements of the 
American Indian tribes or even the historic migrations of the 
Aryans in comparison were but pigmy affairs, and that these 
primitive peoples were relatively settled in their life as compared 
with modern peoples. Nevertheless, there is a great difference 
between the two migrations. The migrations of the Indians 
and of the peoples in Europe in historic times were group affairs, 
while modern migration is predominantly an individual matter. 
When comparing individuals, one can say that there is more 
movement to-day than at any previous time. When, however, 
we think of groups, we must say that the tribes of American 
Indians, of Arabian Bedouins, and of Aryan peoples were less 
settled on the land than are our modern peoples with their 
highly organized governments which give permanence to a popu- 
lation even when the individual constituents of that population 
are constantly and swiftly changing. The wit of man in the face 
of the loosening of the former immemorial bond of kinship has 
caught at the device of substituting for it settlement within 
a given geographic area combined with a sharpening of the con- 
sciousness of political unity. An absolute prerequisite of politi- 
cal stability is attachment of the social group to a definite terri- 


tory. 


THE LAND AND ITS PEOPLE 79 


Growth of Population in Relation to Land Areas. — The ex- 
tent and character of the land has always been a controlling 
influence in the development of population, not only on ac- 
count of the limitations of the food supply, but also on account 
of the union of various tribes and groups into a more compact 
and integrated body. Here, as elsewhere, the impelling forces 
of nature have a vast influence in advancing social union. If, 
for example, the land is broken by mountains and valleys so 
that people in the different valleys are kept apart from each 
other, social integration will be retarded. In fact, differentia- 
tion will set in. The language will vary in the different valleys 
in course of time, customs will become different, modes of 
thought and codes of conduct will grow up, varying within de- 
grees in each of the isolated groups from those prevailing in 
the others. Good examples of such social variation are to be seen 
among the inhabitants of the various valleys of the German and 
Swiss Alps and of the Kentucky mountains. 

But especially has population been limited by land areas 
when there was no room for expansion, for then it must be 
limited in its resources for supporting life. When the food 
supply, with the method of utilization in vogue, would support 
no larger population, either new methods of increasing the food 
supply were found, or the standard of living was lowered, or 
else the population expanded beyond its earlier boundaries. 
Colonization has usually grown out of the pressure of population 
upon food supply furnished by the area occupied in comparison 
with the real or reputed possible supply to be found elsewhere. 
The Greeks colonized when there was an overcrowding of the 
population, the barbarians of the North invaded the Roman 
territory when their own territory would not well support them 
with their existing mode of life. The great modern movement 
of elements in the populations of various countries of Europe 
offers a modern instance. On the other hand, the intensive 
agriculture of the Nile Valley in ancient times and of the valleys 
of Indian and Chinese rivers to-day has made it possible for a 
small area to support an enormous population. Often, however, 
as in the case of the Chinese and the inhabitants of India, a 
lowering of the standard of living and intensive farming have 
been the double alternative to emigration.! 

1 Ross, The Changing Chinese, Chap. IV. 


80 OUTLINES OF SOCIOLOGY 


Various Forms of Land Tenure. — The history of land tenure 
reveals various prominent influences in social development. 
When the tribe settles down upon the soil and owns it and 
controls it without any individual ownership of the land, there 
is always a limitation placed upon man’s individual effort. 
There is a tendency for all to hold the property in common and 
likewise a tendency toward democracy so far as property is 
concerned. It also develops a closely integrated social group 
that wields absolute authority. Forms and customs prevail 
and are perpetuated because of the dominance of tradition as a 
method of social control. In the old village life we find a little 
variation because permanent ownership of the home or house 
lot exists for the family and the small family group develops its 
independent life more truly than where tribal ownership pre- 
vails in its entirety. In both forms, however, community cul- 
tivation of the soil is involved. Under this system there is no 
incentive to the cultivator to do more than “skin ” the land, 
for no one knows whether in next year’s allotment he will have 
the same piece to cultivate as he had last year! Before great 
progress in agriculture can be made some form of land tenure 
by which the land can be held and cultivated by the same in- 
dividual year after year must arise. Two forms of such tenure 
did arise, tenancy for years and ownership in fee simple. The 
old Roman laws developed from land holding gave character 
to the entire Roman policy. The basis of feudal society rested 
upon the system of feudal land tenure. The great farms and 
estates of England and Scotland were conducive to the develop- 
ment of aristocratic government, while the small, individual 
holdings of America,:if persisted in, would insure democracy 
forever. 

Land tenure has usually been of a communal nature among 
primitive tribes, but the individual system early developed out 
of it. Wherever individual possession has been recognized, 
there has always existed a great diversity in the size of the 
holdings. Large and small holdings have existed side by side, 
although in most instances the tendency has been to increase 
the large holdings and to develop a landed aristocracy. 


1 Gibbins, Industry in England, New York, 1906, p. 41. Warner, Landmarks of 
English Industrial History, London, 4th ed., p. 44. 


THE LAND AND ITS PEOPLE 8I 


REFERENCES 


Grwpincs, F.H. Elements of Sociology, Chap. II. 

Buckie, THomas Henry. History of Civilization in England, Chap. II, or 
CarvER, T. N. Sociology and Social Progress, Chap. X. 

DEGREEF, GUILLAUME. Introduction dla Sociologie, Part I, Chap. III. 

LAVELEYE, EMILE DE. Primitive Property. 

THACKERY, S.W. The Land and the Community, Chaps. I, II, and III. 

WALKER, Francis A. The Land Question. 

THomas, W.H. Source Book for Social Origins, pp. 47-54. 


QUESTIONS AND EXERCISES 


1. Trace the origin and growth of the various settlements in your county, 
showing what physical and geographic features had to do with the establish- 
ment of the various villages and cities of the county. 

2. Why was Virginia settled before Ohio? 

3. What were the geographical features which determined the location 
of the railroad in your city or village? 

4. Show how a “backwoods community” of which you may know has 
been made different by physical conditions so far as the character of the 
people is concerned. 

5. Account for the backwardness of the Kentucky mountaineers on the 
basis of the influence of physical conditions. 

6. Point out specific ways in which the White Man who dispossessed the 
Red Man was more closely attached to the soil. 

7. What physical reason is there which helps to make land in New York 
City worth thousands of dollars per front foot, while land ona fertile prairie 
of the Central West is worth only a hundred dollars per acre? 

8. Show what physical conditions predetermined America to be a country 
of a very composite population — a very ‘‘ melting pot”’ of the nations. 

9. Show that the physical factors alone are inadequate to explain social 
phenomena, by indicating the reasons why the White Man is able to sustain 
a very much larger population in the United States than was the Indian. 

10. Why does individual tenure of land make for the betterment of a 
country rather than the communal tenure of Europe in the Middle Ages? 

11. Take a city block and a rural square mile and compare them as to the 
proportion of the occupants who live in rented places in each and the pro- 
portion who own the places they occupy. 

12. Compare the results as to exhaustion of the soil and careful farming 
in the modern rental tenure of farms with the same points in the communal 
tenure of land on a manor in Medieval Europe. 


CHAPTER III 


SOCIAL ACTIVITIES 


Social Forms Preceded by Social Action.—It is evident 
from every side that social forms have been developed from 
social.action. Just as the tiny clam grows and builds his house 
over him in the form of a shell, so each social action creates a 
certain social form about it. No established law or rule of 
action appears until first the need for it has been occasioned by 
the action of individuals or groups. Indeed, in most cases the 
action precedes its formal acknowledgment as well as the formal 
establishment of an institution. The social activities, like 
those of an individual, result from the endeavor of the social 
group to adapt itself to its environment in order to secure the 
satisfaction of certain felt social needs. We judge of the com- 
position of society by its activities, and of its organs or parts 
by the functions of such organs or parts. Ward asserts that the 
purpose of organization is function and thus he holds that the 
performance of social activities is the object of human institu- 
tions. But primarily the social activities were merely to 
satisfy human desire and, incidentally, permanent human in- 
stitutions composing the social structure were created. After 
the unconscious creation of the social structures the conscious 
social effort appeared and under its direction the structures 
were changed and improved by the conscious direction of society. 

Feeling and Restraint. — The first general effort of man arises 
primarily from the sources of sensation. The sense of hunger 
causes him to make an effort to satisfy it. The pain of cold 
leads him to seek warmth by changing location, or else by making 
shelter. The desire for companionship induces him to seek 
associates. The emotions of fear and love prompt him to act 


1“The function is the end for which a mechanism is constructed.’’ — Warp, 
Pure Sociology, New York, 1907, pp. 180, 181. Cf. Cooley, Social Organization, 
New York, 1909, p. 21. 


82 


SOCIAL ACTIVITIES 83 


in certain directions to satisfy his desires. Primarily self- 
interest was the only point involved, but by a process of social 
selection or a conscious weeding out of excessively self-seeking 
individuals by the majority of the group,! this gradually devel- 
oped into a general or social interest. Feeling came to be modified 
by social restraint, which represents one of the primary social 
activities. The socialization of the individual’s egoistic feelings 
doubtless was also furthered by the advantage for group survival 
rendered by self-restraint in the interest of the group. Even 
in animals this restraint has been developed, partly the out- 
growth of a prolonged infancy and partly of natural selection.? 
The instinct for the preservation and perpetuation of the in- 
dividual was soon enlarged into the desire for the preservation 
and perpetuation of the social group. The ultimate justifica- 
tion of society as a whole can only be the superior advantages 
which association gives for survival and happiness. If associa- 
tion inevitably leads to the destruction of the individual, society 
and all its ways will cease to be. That it has flourished among 
human kind is a silent but cogent testimony that society means 
superior opportunities for social beings to live and perpetuate 
their kind. 

While we now may look to the completed social structure with 
all its combined activities to find its ultimate purpose, this 
was not recognized by man in his primitive social activities. He 
went about following his natural desires and spent his efforts 
to satisfy his physical and social wants without any purpose 
to build a social structure. Viewed from the present stand- 
point, however, it is easy to perceive how these independent 
and individual activities, directed only to immediate ends, have 
worked together in a process which Ward calls “ synergy ”? 
to produce a social structure with its various parts and accom- 
panying activities. 

Pleasurable sensation arose in a state of blind, non-purposive 
Nature because it served to stimulate the functioning processes 
necessary for the survival of the creature. However, so in- 
tense is such sensation, that, unless restraints are imposed, the 


1See Galton, Hereditary Genius, pp. 344-348, or Carver, Sociology and Social 
Progress, pp. 641-646. 

Drummond, Ascent of Man, New York, 1894, pp. 230-318. 

2? Ward, Pure Sociology, p. 171. 


84 OUTLINES OF SOCIOLOGY 


process which it promotes — the functioning of the organism — 
is overdone to the disadvantage of that organism. For example, 
the pleasant taste of food was of advantage because on account 
of it the animal of too low intelligence to know that food was 
necessary to survival would perform the otherwise rather weari- 
some function of eating. But if a man continues to eat just 
because food has a pleasant taste and overeats, he will have 
dyspepsia, a sign that his digestive organs are not functioning 
properly. 

So, to sum up, in the social world pleasant feelings arising 
from association under certain conditions promote the formation 
of social bonds which make for the survival of the group. How- 
ever, those feelings unrestrained within certain bounds destroy 
their own ends — social functioning — hence the restraint of 
feeling brings about social order, and thus builds the social 
structure.! 

Preservation of the Social Group. — Gradually the preserva- 
tion of the individual passes into concern for the preservation of 
the social group. A little nucleus of group-conscious individuals 
begins to work as a unit for the preservation of its own existence. 
Conscious social action by each individual of each group takes 
the place of instinctive action and is directed to group preser- 
vation. The community interest in the preservation of the 
group is seen in the development of war for defense, where all 
are united in a common enterprise. Such group concern may 
be seen also in the development of a government where individ- 
uals are working together in the preservation of common inter- 
ests. The observance of custom causes them to act as a unit 
and each individual who comes into the group through birth or 
adoption is subjected to the customs and traditions of the group 
and finds himself controlled, not by one individual, but by a 
higher power — the will of the group — to which all must be 
subordinate... His feelings and desires are restrained, not only 
by the natural environment, but by a newly created social en- 
vironment. Gradually this restraint is embodied in decrees, 
laws, or rules of action which are formally declared necessary 
for the preservation of the group. 

Moreover, in economic activities also there appears a great 
development of conscious codperation. The individual prima- 

1 Ward, Pure Sociology, New York, 1907, pp. 119-135. 


SOCIAL ACTIVITIES 85 


rily sought food independently and regardless of his fellows. The 
food supply at first instinctively and then consciously became a 
matter of social determination. Men hunt in groups and share 
the product of their combined labors. A whale found upon the 
shore or captured in the surf belongs to the family or tribe and 
not to the individual who discovers it. The field which is pro- 
tected and defended by all belongs to the group, and conse- 
quently its products partake essentially of communal owner- 
ship. The building of the house is usually done with many 
hands, representing the entire group, and hence sometimes we 
have a communal ownership and use of the house. Although 
individual activity remains, group activities become increas- 
ingly important. Through this associated activity, and only 
through it, was man’s present stage of development possible. 
In the course of social evolution these activities of social order 
and economic life expand until we now have a complex and 
highly differentiated form of political and economic life. 

The Perpetuation of the Social Group. — The love of life 
and its converse, the fear of death, have been the two great 
motives at the basis of the evolutionary struggle. These in- 
stinctive attitudes, however, are not alone in their primacy 
as fundamentals which explain the survival of the human race. 
They give rise to flight and other methods common to animals 
and men and adapted to promote escape from death; they 
give rise to conflict with foes; to attack of prey for food, 
with its joy of battle; and to the activities which end in 
the satisfaction of immediate desires. 

They are supplemented by another instinct necessary for 
the perpetuation of race, the sexual. It is doubtful whether, 
primarily, human beings desire offspring. But, following the 
desire for companionship which gradually develops in all social 
animals, and for sexual intercourse, the desire for offspring 
appears. There is evidence that low down in the scale of 
animal life the parents had no concern for the offspring. Yet 
in some species of such low forms as fishes, there appears a care 
for the nesting place, in certain higher animals maternal concern 
for the eggs and the young, but paternal concern is much weaker 
among many species of animals, as may be seen in the case even 
of cattle. In gregarious animals, however, a beginning of 
paternal regard is to be seen in the care which a gander and 


86 OUTLINES OF SOCIOLOGY 


certain other males take of their females and the young. 
Even among human beings there is a wide difference in father 
care between the lower grades of social development and the 
highest grades. This growth in parental care doubtless developed 
owing to a process of natural selection and resulted in the 
better survival of those for whom their parents had manifested 
concern. Obviously such concern in most cases was of advantage 
to the preservation of the species. Even yet sentiment, that 
child of instinct and tradition, rather than reason, is the most 
effective weapon of appeal for the care of the young. 

This instinctive concern for the offspring has produced im- 
portant results in the history of mankind. Undoubtedly the 
child is the real cause of the home. Its long period of help- 
lessness has caused the building of shelter and the construction 
of a permanent habitation. Around the child have been grouped 
all the early social affiliations. Clustered about the home idea 
we discover a variety of motives for the perpetuation of the 
whole group. Living together develops a tender feeling and 
sentiment among all inmates of the home. This is followed by 
family pride, which seeks to perpetuate the group and to cause 
it to survive the attacks of other groups. The ethnic idea 
becomes prominent and out of it springs national life with 
patriotism. 

In the course of social evolution there appears, finally, a con- 
scious effort for the perpetuation of the species. Certain cus- 
toms and laws regulate marriage relationships. In some in- 
stances individuals are forbidden to marry outside the larger 
ethnic groups and also are forbidden to marry near relatives 
within the group, but are forced to take wives from the larger 
social divisions within the society, although it is uncertain how 
much of such regulations was consciously prompted by the per- 
ception of the advantage such arrangements gave for survival 
and how much by accidental taboos of primitive religion. 
Doubtless, however, to-day such regulations as well as laws 
against infanticide, child labor, and neglect of children are 
consciously directed towards race welfare. In a thousand ways 
the social group seeks to protect itself and to perpetuate its 
existence. It must be constantly on the defensive against 
external foes who seek to destroy it and also watchful to seize 
every advantage to ward off disease and to establish such laws 


SOCIAL ACTIVITIES 87 


and customs as will be conducive to the perpetuation of life. 
This social activity is absolutely essential to the existence of 
society and never ceases its operations in the highest and most 
perfected forms of social life. 

The Advancement of the Group. — Many efforts are made in 
several directions to raise the plane of living and to increase the 
efficiency of the social group. Among these may be mentioned 
all attempts to improve the physical conditions of mankind. 
The increase of the food supply, the invention of means of 
storing and preserving food, and the improvement of its quality, 
lead to a more constant and regular supply of the necessaries 
of physical life, do away with the loss of energy from hunger, 
and give the group leisure to improve itself in other ways.! 

Scientific discovery for the improvement of the material con- 
ditions of society represents one of its chief activities. Also 
the training of the physical man and the protection from dis- 
ease involves another group of social activities making for social 
development. 

Equally important for the advancement of society is the 
recreative life, the games and the amusements which were of 
great variety in primitive society as well as among civilized 
peoples. Through the ages not only of the human but also 
of the animal world, there has existed the joy of play. Only 
recently, however, has our philosophy found any justification 
for the “foolish ”’ practice. At last it has been discovered 
that the play element is essential to the highest development 
and the best welfare of the community. Hence this phase of 
social activity is important for the advancement of the race. 

Moral and Asthetic Activities. — Every well-organized com- 
munity has an unwritten code of moral law which has much to 
do with the unity and strength of society. Societies are or- 
ganized for the express purpose of advancing the moral standard 
of the community. Such are temperance societies, those for 
the prevention of cruelty to animals, and the large number of 
rescue and charitable societies which seek the betterment of 
particular classes of unfortunates. Every movement which seeks 
to bring about a more socially efficient association of individ- 
uals and to increase the integrity and adjustment of the mass 
to better social ends elevates society to a higher plane and adds 

1Spencer, Principles of Sociology, Vol. I, Sec. 26, 


88 OUTLINES OF SOCIOLOGY 


to it strength and vigor. Such efforts not only make for a 
lessening of social waste, but add to the labor capacity of the 
community, increasing its longevity and offering greater op- 
portunity for survival of the ethnic group. 

Very closely allied to the moral are the esthetic activities 
which seek to elevate taste and to inculcate a love of the beauti- 
ful. No doubt the general effect of the love of the beautiful is 
increased satisfaction in life. Moreover, the love of the beau- 
tiful has close connection with a passion for those social purposes 
and standards which we call the truth, and which work for the 
advancement of the race by promoting social adjustment to 
better ideals, while the general effect of ugliness is toward de- 
generation. Here, as elsewhere, however, it is the proper use 
of the instrument that yields the highest reward, for the use of 
art may be directed toward immorality as well as toward moral- 
ity. Itis said that in Hungary, one effect of music is to develop 
a lazy emotional life, and many people have held that the excess 
of music in Germany, with its perpetual play on the emotions, 
has a tendency to destroy the power of inventive and logical 
thought. ‘This is psychologically what is to be expected, for any 
stirring of the emotions — those social engines of prime impor- 
tance — which does not result in action results in the atrophy 
of that natural connection between the emotional life and activ- 
ity, and therefore in social degeneration. Moreover, it may be 
questioned whether the popular ‘“‘ragtime’”’ music, although 
furnishing recreation to the faculties, has a beneficial effect 
upon the community. It usurps the function of good music. 
It also tends to appeal to such naive and grotesque tastes that 
its effects soon pall. Further, it does not afford that diversi- 
fication of satisfactions which best develops one’s nature. How- 
ever, the general effect of art is to improve the ideals, to motivate 
the social actions of the community, and to develop those activ- 
ities which lead to the study of the beautiful in nature and art 
and which are essential to the progress of the social group. 

Cultural Activities. — Culture has no standard definition, 
but in a sociological sense, besides implying the growth of our 
faculties with increased attainment of knowledge and apprecia- 
tion of art, it implies an elevation of belief and a transformation 
of conduct. The social activities most directly enlisted in 
culture of the group are religious, educational, and scientific. 


| SOCIAL ACTIVITIES 89 
Ba 

Of the many thousands engaged in religious propaganda, all 
are directly or indirectly attempting to change religious belief. 
Now religious belief has its most intimate connections with the 
emotions rather than with the reason. That gives it its peculiarly 
important function in society. It becomes a mighty dynamic 
force for social action. In all stages of social evolution it has 
played a very important part in society building. Religion, 
moreover, has to do primarily with belief and secondarily with 
conduct. To change the belief from a lower to a higher form, 
that is, from a less to a more socially efficient form, and to 
bring the conduct of society into subordination to a belief is 
the vital process of religion so far as its effect on society is con- 
cerned. Since belief has a most vital connection with action, 
in this capacity it is a powerful social organizer. While a 
society might exist without it, nevertheless it has always been 
an important element in the process of integrating the social 
life, and the periods of decline in positive belief of nations have 
been periods of decline of national greatness. 

The educational activities are the most positive and direct 
agencies for the advancement of society through the process of 
culture. To persuade people to supplant ignorance by intelli- 
gence, to balance the emotions with reason and thus give them 
rational direction and control, to prepare the young for efficient 
industry. and citizenship and to elevate the ideals of life, are the 
principal functions of the educational activities. It is in this 
field that the conscious activity of society is best seen. Through 
education society seeks to force its own conduct into new 
channels of action. In the highest types of modern society the 
organized educational forces represent the most universal social 
activity that may be discerned. They make for the unity and 
solidarity of society and are the chief methods to insure society’s 
adaption to changing social conditions. 

The scientific movement is a part of the educational; for 
while the object of science is to find out truth, its ultimate pur- 
pose is to make it useful to society. No sooner is a scientific 
truth discovered than great effort is made to bring it to a 
utilitarian basis. Science has thus become necessary to the 
material welfare of the human race. It is the handmaid of 
human betterment. When a tribe adopts modern civilization 
and fails to utilize the knowledge of life that science gives, it 


go OUTLINES OF SOCIOLOGY 


declines rather than advances. This principle is observed in 
the contact of savage or barbarous tribes with modern civiliza- 
tion. Failing to master and employ the full force of modern 
science in their adopted mode of life, they degenerate in the 
presence of civilized arts. They learn the vices of civilization 
while refusing to adopt the teachings of civilized science and 
morals. The result is social downfall. Better that the rude 
savage have nature as a guide than come in contact with 
civilization without the application of scientific truth to the 
conduct of life. 

Anti-social Activities. — As there are social activities which 
make for social advancement, so there are many activities 
which obstruct it, such as the activities of bands of thieves or 
burglars, street gangs, counterfeiters, “‘ thugs,” “‘ grafters,” etc. 
As those activities which are social tend to result in social prog- 
ress, these activities which we must denominate as “ anti- 
social ’” tend to destroy group life, or thwart constructive social 
programs. Genetically many anti-social activities must be 
explained as survivals of past social practices which later social 
developments have rendered obsolete and harmful to the new- 
born social conscience. They illustrate that “the good is the 
enemy of the best,” and provide evidence that clearer social 
vision has rendered “ ancient good uncouth.”” Moreover, they 
may point to a lack of perfect adjustment in the later social 
activities and inventions to the needs of the people. The saloon, 
the low dance hall, with all their low and evil practices, the street 
gangs of city boys, and the neighborhood gangs of country boys 
with their pranks and fights illustrate this point. They show 
that some social needs of the people of the community are being 
met in anti-social ways by reason partly of the fact that there 
are lacking for the satisfaction of those needs means that are 
socially constructive in their results. Organizations grow out 
of these activities against which the social group in self-defense 
must exert its most potent, preventive, repressive, and curative 
methods. 

Codperative Association. — Much has been said previously in 
this volume about codperation and it will suffice here to mention 
it in connection with the general social activities. It represents 
a unity of purpose and action in accomplishing ends. The 
working of people in groups for a particular purpose involves a 


SOCIAL ACTIVITIES gI 


large number of social activities making for the advancement of 
society. Here one must distinguish the immediate from the 
ultimate end. A group of people organized for the purpose of 
developing a large body of iron ore are all desirous of making 
an income, but the real service to society is found in the produc- 
tion of a volume of useful metal which will improve the material 
and probably the social conditions of the whole community. 
When an entrepreneur borrows capital, hires men, and leases 
ground, he is bringing capitalists, laborers, and landowners 
into a combination of effort for his own profit. However, under 
proper economic conditions he and these other beings are work- 
ing together, often unconsciously, but none the less truly, in 
a codperative enterprise of great benefit to the whole of society. 

Such codperation is indirect, but codperation for the improve- 
ment of society may be direct when a body of men organize 
themselves into a civic league, to advance the social and political 
interests of the community, or when a body of women form a 
club with social purposes. This kind of codperation is common 
and represents a distinct group of social activities. Here we 
approach the idea of the social mind with its concert of feeling, 
thinking, and willing for the welfare of the community. This 
is the highest generalization of social codperative activity. It 
depends upon public conscience and public will for its action. 
Social activities in their highest forms are psychological in 
nature. This subject will be further discussed in the chapter 
on Psychical Forces. 


REFERENCES 


Grppincs, F. H. Descriptive and Historical Sociology, pp. 67-71. 

SMALL and VINCENT. Iniroduction to the Study of Society, pp. 237-266. 

SPENCER, HERBERT. Principles of Sociology, Vol. I, pp. 473-478. 

Warp, LESTER F. Dynamic Sociology, Vol.1I, pp. 468-502, 524-565, 581- 
706; Pure Sociology, pp. 169-216, 544-572. 


QUESTIONS AND EXERCISES 


1. Show how in the early history relief of the poor in your country social 
activities preceded social forms. 

2. How would you explain the fact that in early Iowa history laws pro- 
viding for poorhouses preceded the building of any such institutions? (See 
Gillin, History of Poor Relief Legislation in Iowa, p. 183.) 


Q2 OUTLINES OF SOCIOLOGY 


3. After reading Ward, Pure Sociology, pp. 119-135, supply instances 
from your own observations in elections, church revivals, and church quarrels, 
in tariff and tax controversies, in the history of women’s clubs, and in the 
conduct of nations showing how feelings furnish the motive power of social 
action. 

4. Describe in your own community a social action inspired by intense 
feelings upon which serious restraints had to be placed in order to further the 
success of the action. 

5. Describe some present-day laws which restrain the individual) in the 
interests of the preservation of the group. Some customs. 

6. What evidence does “race suicide’”’ supply in support of the assertion 
that instinct rather than reason must be depended on for the perpetuation 
of the race? Point out the fallacy, if any, in such argument. 

7. Make a list of all the activities in your community which have for 
their purpose the advancement of the group. 

8. Classify the following activities: A church, a county fair, a temperance 
campaign, a social survey, a city planning exhibit, university extension 
work, a baseball game, a political campaign, a woman’s club. 

g. If love of the beautiful has a close connection with virtue and truth, 
show the social justification of the movement for city planning, housing 
laws, art galleries, training in domestic science and art, and good music. 

10. Explain the origin of a boys’ gang, showing how that organization 
satisfies a social need. Show how it often achieves an anti-social result. 


CHAPTER IV 


SOCIAL ORGANIZATION 


Meaning of Social Organization. — Social organization is 
represented by the various parts of society in so far as they 
function with one another. When any group organized for a 
specific purpose becomes essential to social life or social order 
in the normal state of society, it becomes a part of the social 
organization. Thus, for instance, the church as an institution 
makes itself essential as an instructing and controlling body. 
So do all trades and businesses, such as the banking business, 
which perform an essential economic service to the community. 
Above and over all private social organizations is the state and 
the various subdivisions which, as a sort of a framework, hold 
the great social body together in a definite form. Just how 
this structure has been built up has been suggested in the chap- 
ters on social evolution. Each activity, beginning faintly at 
first, grows stronger and stronger until it builds about itself 
a definite organic group of people continuing its function in a 
systematic way. 

The explanation just made applies more especially to societies 
which are somewhat developed. The term “social organization,” 
however, must also be applied to the social relationships to be 
found in groups much less developed than civilized societies. 
It must also cover the crude beginnings of social organization. 
Any fixity of social relations whether the outgrowth of instinct, 
feeling of likeness, or of conscious social purpose must be char- 
acterized as a social organization. The essential idea in a 
social organization is permanency of social relationships. Some- 
times such relations are produced by instinct, sometimes by 
the pleasurable feelings excited by being in the company of 
those whom we like, and at other times by the conscious appre- 
ciation of certain advantages of such relationships. They may 
grow out of fear and patronage, congeniality, or even force. Or, 

93 


94 OUTLINES OF SOCIOLOGY 


they may develop from a contract entered into by superiors 
and inferiors or between equals. Social organization includes 
all sorts of permanent relationships upon any basis whatso- — 
ever. 

Development of Groups out of Social Aggregations. — 
Granting that the primal condition of society is a loosely con- 
structed horde, brought together through accident, from follow- 
ing the same desires, or from responding to the same stimuli, 
how did it happen that this loosely knit group finally became 
organized? Within this horde, smaller groups must have 
formed, clustering about a central interest or activity. Some- 
times these social bonds centered about the sex interests, some- 
times about a strong personality who established bonds of 
authority and obedience, such as may be seen in tribal and 
historic feudalism, and in the primitive religious or secret society, 
and sometimes about economic interests. When it was sexual 
attraction which brought more definite social relations, gradually 
the family and home life was built up, with their taboos, cus- 
toms, and traditions. Likewise, the religious motive causing 
a repetition of ceremonies finally produced an organized group 
of people attending to religious services. In various industrial 
occupations individuals began to work together to secure means 
of subsistence, they combined in building homes, in games, and 
in other social activities. All this had a tendency to diversify 
the life of society. 

Necessity of Social Integration.— Each of these small 
social groups, however, arising about various social interests, 
came into existence independently of other groups, and integra- 
tion became necessary. They were often found working at 
cross purposes socially ; the interests of one small group clashed 
with those of another. In this struggle the paramount interests 
of the whole body of people, which might be called an aggrega- 
tion, were often placed in jeopardy, especially in the presence 
of a hostile aggregation. This made necessary the subordinat- 
ing of small circles within the group to those interests which 
meant survival for the whole body of people closely allied. 
Hence, little by little independent social groups became merged 
or subordinated into a central organization. This integration 
brought many of the scattered elements of society into compact 
union well illustrated by that very highly centralized organi- 


SOCIAL ORGANIZATION 95 


zation, the patriarchal family, in which almost complete control 
centered in one head, who represented the controlling power 
of the whole. Another example is to be found in the tribe 
which is formed by many clan groups united for the common 
purposes of religion, war, and association. The confederating 
of various tribes into still larger groups also is a continuation 
of the process of integration that went on through the centuries 
of development of human society. Nor is this integration, 
though it may have logically preceded other phases of social 
development, ever eliminated from the social process. It is a 
constant factor in society building, recurring in ever larger and 
larger ways as society becomes more extended. It represents 
the progress of race unity and solidarity. 

Social Composition. — By the term “ social composition ”’ soci- 
ologists mean those natural divisions of society comprising all 
ages, sexes, marital conditions, and ethnic relationships which 
are each self-sufficient for their perpetuation. The term 
signifies the natural groups of people occupying a common terri- 
tory, as contrasted with those groupings which are the results 
of conscious planning and for definite purposes. Examples of 
social composition are the family groups in modern societies, 
the kinship groups in primitive societies, the village — or com- 
munity — groups which have grown up largely on the basis of 
blood relationship in both primitive and modern societies, the 
town, the neighborhood, and the state. Social composition 
predominates in the social organization of the primitive societies ; 
the family, the horde, the tribe, and the village are the character- 
istic social organizations. On the other hand, in the modern 
civilized society the constituent society, or a group based upon 
likeness of interest, and formed for a definite purpose, such as 
partnerships, and industrial, cultural, and civil corporations, 
is in the ascendancy. The chief mark of a component society 
is that it is practically complete in itself, so that it could carry 
on an independent existence. In a constituent society the 
groups are interdependent. Under the old régime society was 
composed of a blood kindred, a development from the family 
group with the family relationships repeated in different forms 
and combinations. These various relationships held society 
together. Gradually the blood ties were supplanted by other 
social bonds, and society was composed of individuals, each of 


96 OUTLINES OF SOCIOLOGY 


whom was connected with the whole group regardless of family 
relationship. As Giddings has pointed out, this change took 
place when for blood relationship there was substituted pro- 
pinquity in the same political area! In both tribal and civil 
society the social composition may be observed. 

It is easy to see that the so-called structure of society is 
represented by a body of people working for a definite purpose, 
bound together in psychological and social union with other 
bodies of people working for different purposes no less definite. 
The basis of their organization may be custom or tradition on 
the one hand, or, on the other, a written constitution. A social 
organization may be a playground group drawn together by a 
common play interest, a primitive tribe bound together by a 
common blood, or a highly organized state united together by a 
written convenant. <A group organized consciously into smaller 
groups on the basis of common social likenesses and interests 
and these smaller groups in turn integrated by common social 
purposes into a larger social group like the city or the state 
represent a much more highly developed organization -because 
the social bonds are purposive and deliberative as compared 
with the sometimes accidental bonds of the blood group. Both 
types, however, are included under the term “ social organiza- 
tion.” 

Federated Groups. — All federated groups in primitive socie- 
ties as well as those which spring up by the coalescence of family 
groups into hordes come under the category of the social com- 
position rather than that of the social constitution. These 
various groups do not come together to supplement the work of 
each other and thus gain social advantages, but they are merely 
two groups of the same sort with similar purposes and near 
enough in race to make their union bearable in days when the 
blood bond was the important social tie. The union of the 
various Indian tribes about the lakes of central New York was 
such a federation.2 Composition refers to the grouping and 
character of the population. Magnitude of population, however, 
is a question that becomes more interesting from the sociological 
point of view when it concerns a society that has grown out of 
the primitive state. There may be a conscious effort in com- 


1 Giddings, Principles of Sociology, New York, 1900, p. 321. 
2 Morgan, Ancient Society, New York, 1878, Chap. V. 


SOCIAL ORGANIZATION 97 


ponent societies for social integration which has for its purpose 
the increase of the aggregation of individuals, and the amalga- 
mation of these individuals into a mass through matrimonial 
alliances or general social union. Sometimes through alliances 
of a general economic or social nature several tribes or nations 
have been united into one society. Efforts have thus been 
consciously made for the union of elements, which have finally 
yielded to complete social unity through the processes of sociali- 
zation. The new group remains largely a component society. 
The variety of differentiated small social groups within the 
society work for different aims, but each of these aims is com- 
plementary to the aims of the other groups. In this way society 
develops to the point where the social constitution becomes pre- 
dominant over the social composition. 

Conscious Integration. — The combination of smaller groups 
into larger ones and the consequent development of an integral 
society went on during an extended period. Early in the devel- 
opment such growth by the combination of groups was instinc- 
tive or at most the result of the recognition of an affinity 
between the groups. Usually this was based on racial relation- 
ships. A time came, however, in the development of every 
society when it began to become conscious of itself. It then 
acted as a unit and strove to build itself into a greater society 
by its own conscious efforts. 

Illustration of this change from unconscious, non-purposive 
to conscious, purposive integration is afforded by the growth 
of the Hebrew people by the sympathetic coalescence of the 
various tribes which had settled in Caanan, at first all more 
or less closely related by blood, and then a little later by their 
becoming possessed of a conscious desire to form a stronger 
union and select a king.! Similar examples might be multiplied. 
In fact the history of every important nation in existence to-day 
as well as of those nations whose history is all that remains 
supplies illustrations of this process. In different ways each 
sought to enlarge its territorial boundaries, to defend itself 
against foreign foes, and to regulate its internal affairs. It 
enlarged its population by absorbing other families and tribes. 
This was accomplished usually through conquest or treaty, or 
perchance by the accidental union of groups. 

1T Samuel 8: 4-6. 
H 


98 OUTLINES OF SOCIOLOGY 


The So-called Social Organism.— By slow degrees there 
was developed what in the early history of sociology was known 
as the social organism, a social group made up of subgroups 
closely related, serving each its own purpose for which it was 
organized, but articulating with all others in codperation for 
the accomplishment of common ends, and therefore forming 
a social whole. The term “ social organism ” is only an analogy 
to help the student to visualize this complex and invisible 
social reality called a society. It implies members or parts 
articulating with each other and forming a whole. But this 
articulation is psychological rather than physical in its nature. 
Its bonds of organization are common feelings, purposes, aims, 
and hopes. ‘The articulate body is made up of men and women 
inspired and held by these purposes, feelings, and hopes. In- 
dividuals moving freely by their own volition are nevertheless 
formed into permanent groups that are perpetuated by a suc- 
cession of individuals. Thus the group of people performing 
the banking service are essential to the continuation of the life 
of a modern society, just as are those who perform the service 
of exchanging or transporting goods. Those who are engaged 
in legislative halls, the police force, or the great body of religious 
teachers, are distinct groups that are working to carry out the 
activities of society as a whole. Individuals and groups are 
caught and molded to social purposes and ends by the complex 
of community interests much as the chemical elements compos- 
ing the two cells which form the beginning of a new life are 
caught and built up into a new unity. 

Social Organization. — But society is something more than 
a mere organism; it is an organization. It develops a social 
activity and exercises a social will in giving individuals their 
proper place and establishing the rights and privileges of groups, 
as well as of individuals. The individual man may be said to 
be a bio-psychic organism, but he is more, for he can organize 
his own mental and physical forces for a special purpose. The 
conscious mental effort of society exercised in organizing itself 
makes it a super-organism, an organization. 

Differentiation of Organs or Parts. — After society has 
achieved a degree of unity it begins to differentiate or separate 
into new groups. This is noticed especially in the economic 
world, where it is marked by a division of labor. At first each 


SOCIAL ORGANIZATION 99 


individual tries to do everything for himself, then he“does only 
a part, allowing others to do the rest in exchange for what 
he does for them. Soon there are the hunters, the house build- 
ers, the housekeepers, and later the manufacturers and traders. 
Agriculturists, bankers, transporters, etc., appear and_per- 
form separate services. So, too, the medicine man is at first 
priest and doctor combined; later these services become differ- 
entiated and a group of physicians and a group of priests appear. 
The same differentiation is observed in government, until the 
legislative, executive, and judicial systems are clearly marked 
off with all their subdivisions. Thus the interrelated functions 
are developed. 

The Social Constitution. — By this term is meant the or- 
ganization of a society as made up of interdependent groups of 
people, each of which groups has a different purpose and each 
of which therefore serves a different social need. Examples 
are the economic, educational, religious, and esthetic groups 
of a population. Usually these groups are artificial in their 
origin. Each serves but one social need, while a component 
society serves all the fundamental social needs necessary to the 
existence of the group. The constituent elements of society 
might be called social organs. If we observe society as it is 
and try to enumerate all the parts of society, we shall see what 
is meant. by these interdependent groups called organs. Here, 
again, we must hold clearly in mind that the term “ organs ” 
is but a figure of speech to aid us in comprehending functions 
and relationships. According to Spencer, these constituent 
classes of society are as follows: 

First, there is a large economic group which is called the sus- 
taining group because it ministers directly to the physical sus- 
tenance of society.1. It includes those branches of society 
engaged in producing all forms of goods for the satisfaction of 
human wants; those that are engaged in the exchanging and 
transporting of goods, as well as in the transforming industries. 

In the second category we have the perpetuating groups, 
such as the family, whose primary service is to perpetuate the 
species, and all medical and sanitary societies which seek to 
preserve life. Then there is the communicating system, so 
essential in these days to the sustaining organs, including as. 

1See Spencer, Principles of Sociology, Vol. I, p. 498. 


TOO OUTLINES OF SOCIOLOGY 


it does all the methods of conveying knowledge, such as the 
telegraph, the telephone, and the printing press. Books, 
newspapers, and magazines are primarily means of communi- 
cating knowledge. 

Very important are those groups which may be recognized 
as cultural, such as the church, educational institutions, scien- 
tific, literary, esthetic, and ethical societies. 

In the making of such classification a group is classified accord- 
ing to its most important action, although it might be classified 
under several other headings. 

Finally, we must mention the highly interesting and essential 
group known as the regulating and protecting system.’ Its 
chief value is found in the creation and maintenance of social 
order. If we take the United States as an example, its systems 
would include the international system which establishes the 
relationship between our nation and others, and maintains an 
independent national life; the legislative, judicial, and execu- 
tive institutions of the national government and of the various 
state governments, the municipal government, the standing 
army, and the police system. In addition to these we have 
state education, of which the primary service is not culture, but 
state protection or social order. 

In this connection should be mentioned voluntary association, 
which has played an important part in establishing social order 
and protecting groups of people. Among these are labor or- 
ganizations, insurance companies, fraternal societies, benefit 
societies, and charity organizations. 

Constituent Parts of Society. — The following diagram of 
the constituent parts of society may be of suggestive value 
if we remember that the classification is based on the most 
important function or special service of each organ, although 
a single organ may have other widely distributed functions. 


I. The sustaining organs — economic. 
Producing groups. 
Extracting. 
Transforming. 
Transporting. 
Exchanging. 


1Spencer, Principles of Sociology, Vol. I, p. 510. 


SOCIAL ORGANIZATION | IOI 


II. The perpetuating groups. 
The family. 
Medical societies. 
Sanitary societies. 
III. The communicating systems (essential to economic groups). 
(a) The printing press and its auxiliaries, books, newspapers, 
magazines, etc. 
(b) The telephone. 
(c) The telegraph. 
(d) The railways, tramways, motor vehicles, etc. 
IV. The cultural groups. 
The church. 
Educational institutions. 
Scientific societies. 
Literary, esthetic, and ethical societies. 
Social clubs and societies. 
Recreative societies. 
V. The regulating and protective system. 
International institutions. 
The state. 
Legislative institutions. 
Judicial institutions. 
Executive institutions. 
Police system (broader than executive). 
State education. 
Voluntary association. 
Labor organizations. 
Insurance companies. 
Fraternal societies. 
Benefit societies. 
Charitable societies and institutions. 
Political parties. 


This analysis might be carried much further by the student, 
but it serves the present purpose in the form here presented. 

Differentiation an Evidence of Progress.!— This perpetual 
process of differentiation and multiplication of constituent 
groups is a mode of progress. Society grows by the develop- 
ment of a new activity and consequently of a new part. It 
shows its development in several ways; first, in the specializa- 
tion of the regulating system in which there is a development 
of new groups which have for their purpose the establishment 


1See Chap. VII, Part IV. 


102 OUTLINES OF SOCIOLOGY 


of social order and the protection of citizens. This is followed 
by the specialization of industries in which each group performs 
a particular service. There is a wider division of labor which 
continually separates workers into groups. New industries 
are rapidly developed which add to the number of groups. 
As culture increases there is a continually growing number 
of individuals engaged in social activities, who extend their 
operations in many directions. Thus society —the social 
body, the social complex — grows by adding new forms and 
new functions, and also by the development of each special 
organ. Take, for instance, the service of exchange. How weak 
and imperfect it was at first, but now in its developed state it 
represents a large and powerful machine. Or consider, as an 
example of regulation, that the popular assembly was once a 
very weak body with few advisory powers, having rather a right 
of sanction to what had been done without power to change. 
Its power increased until in such countries as England and the 
United States the popular assembly is the most important legis- 
lative body. 

Changes from Homogeneity to Heterogeneity. — This social 
differentiation gradually changes society from a homogeneous 
body to a heterogeneous body, from a simple to a complex state, 
from an indefinite to a definite relationship. These are the 
essential characteristics of social evolution. The more care- 
fully the functions of the various constituent groups are defined, 
and the more exact are their operations, the more perfect is 
the codperation between these groups and the unity of society. 
Hence, as there is apparently no limit to this differentiation, 
society may be said never to be completed. It is enough to 
determine whether a society has a healthy growth and whether, 
as compared with other societies, it is making progress along 
the lines mentioned, viz., perfecting its functions and increas- 
ing their number. The test of completeness of social organiza- 
tion is the degree to which it promotes the welfare of the indi- 
vidual. 

Each individual may fill many offices and may be a part of 
many organs, owing to the psychological nature of society. 
Thus, a very common citizen may be a member of the legisla- 
ture (regulating), a member of the church (cultural), president 
of a bank (exchange), a member of a gas company (producing), 


SOCIAL ORGANIZATION 103 


a member of the board of regents of a state university (regu- 
lative), a member of an insurance company (protective), and 
a member of a lodge (protective), and thus he may be organized 
many times over because of the power to adapt the body and 
the mind to different services in the social organization. 

The individual occupies a peculiar position in relation to the 
social body.1 He is a part of the organism, but as soon as he 
dies another takes his place, or, to speak more definitely, per- 
forms the service to society which he has given up. Thus society 
represents a stream of individuals passing through life and out 
of it, pushing and crowding, codperating with others for common 
ends, then departing and being replaced by others. 

The Relation of the Individual to the Group. — This serves 
to explain the peculiar nature of society. In the biological 
organism each separate bioplast working in the cell builds up 
one part of the structure in its own locality, but does no more. 
The particles of the body may die, and be eliminated, and so 
may the bioplasts, but others take their places and the body is 
kept in form. But the individual in society is not thus cir- 
cumscribed as to his activity, hence he may form a part of many 
social groups. The analysis of society, then, shows that the 
individuals that compose it may pass from one organ to another 
on account of the numerous distinct services they may per- 
form. Likewise, the social organization composed of a group 
of individuals may perform various distinct social services. 
Such facts as these make it evident that the organic conception 
of society is but an analogy, albeit a helpful one, especially for 
beginners in sociology. One must never forget, however, that 
the analogy between a biological organism and a social group 
is very imperfect and that society is primarily a psychical or- 
ganization. | 

The Primary Group.— The first permanent group that 
existed and perpetuated itself was the sex, or kindred, group. 
One can call it the primitive family, though it was very different 
from our modern family. Durkheim has called this primitive 
group the “social protoplasm.”? It was built primarily on 
the natural attractions of male and female, and secondarily 
upon the security insured by the solidarity of a kinship group, 


1 See Small and Vincent, Introduction to the Study of Society, p. 169. 
2 See Ward, Pure Sociology, New York, 1907, pp. 186, 199, 200. 


104 OUTLINES OF SOCIOLOGY 


whether that was metronymic or patronymic. When society 
had developed to the point where the father or oldest male was 
looked to as the dominant factor in the group there was the 
added security guaranteed by the property right of the hus- 
band and father in the wife and children. It also gave a per- 
manent protection to the young and united all of the same 
“blood relationship.”’ In the formal organization of the family 
the consanguineal attraction was perhaps the greatest force, 
while religion began, at latest, with the rise of the patriarchal 
family, to attract and hold the family together around a common 
altar. 

Other Social Organs. — Although the family, understood 
as the kinship group, is well-nigh universal and brings into 
relationship nearly jall the members of an expanded society, 
there are other groups representing the reorganization of the 
individual into separate occupations. In early societies one 
sees the beginnings of our later differentiation in secret societies, 
in religious and play groups, in military groups, and even in the 
small groups based upon sex so well described by Jenks in his 
The Bantoc Igorot and by Webster in his book on Primitive 
Secret Societies! In more developed societies the same thing 
is seen in the combination of men according to social, business, 
and political ties. Around all these and many other interests 
grow up a long line of other special social groups. 

Social Relationships. — Neither individuals nor groups make 
up a society, however, if they are in isolation. To have society 
social relationships are necessary. Individuals must be bound 
to each other in some sort of relations both mutual and friendly. 
Two people gripping each other in a death struggle for each 
other’s life could not be described as a social group; nor could 
the mere fact that any number of people are grouped together 
give a basis for the assertion that here we have a society. How- 
ever much internal dissension there may be, the predominant 
relations between the individuals and the small groups and 
cliques gathered together must be codperative, in short, they 
must be social relations. The ties by which the various or- 
gans of an individual, or even the various parts of his brain, are 
connected are physical—nerve cells. In social relationships, 


1Jenks, The Bantoc Igorot, pp. 50, 53. Webster, Primitive Secret Societies, pp. 
I-19, 


SOCIAL ORGANIZATION 105 


however, in those attenuated, spiritual, but none the less real 
bonds by which individuals are held together in “ the social 
body,” there is almost no physical basis of interrelation — 
at least, the physical is reduced to a minimum. Language, 
glances of the eye, worked up into the complex products called 
traditions, customs, codes, institutions, fashions, ceremonies, 
play, and constitutions, are the means by which this interchange 
of mental stimulation takes place and by which. individuals 
are bound together into a living whole. ‘True, there are physical 
means of communication. By touch, by the glance of the eye, 
by gesture, and by language transmitted by word of mouth, 
by writing or by electrical means, the feelings, thoughts, and 
wishes of the one are conveyed to others. However, the inter- 
communication and the consequent forming of relationships 
are no less real than if the means of intercommunication were 
more material in their nature. Moreover, the existence of a 
social body, that is, of a number of people held together in rela- 
tions of codrdination and direct or indirect codperation for 
certain definite ends, is just as real as the existence of a man’s 
physical body. The main point to be held in mind to pre- 
vent confusion of thought is that the relationships which hold 
the individuals of a social group together are predominantly 
psychic in nature rather than physical or chemical or biological.! 
On the other hand, in a study of social organization it must be 
remembered that we are concerned both with the relationships 
which bind men together and the forms which the social organ- 
ization may take. | 

Social Forms. — Social relationships express themselves in 
what we call social forms. The term “form” is but a name for 
certain ways in which social relationships bind men together. 
Did any one ever see a social form? We see men acting in cer- 
tain ways and from certain motives under the influence of 
definite forces. They are connected with each other in various 
relations. We say when they associate together in a certain 
way that we have one kind of social structure, and when they 
unite together in another way and from different motives, we 
call their social relationships by another name. What we 
really see is human beings associating together in various ways, 
acting under common influences, moved by similar motives. 

1 Ellwood, Sociology in its Psychological Aspects, pp. 140-142. 


106 OUTLINES OF SOCIOLOGY 


Only in our thought do we see a social form. It is a concept 
of relationships. 

These social structures assume various shapes. Again we use 
a term to express an immaterial relationship. They are forms 
only in our thought. We could call them “ kinds ” or “ types ” 
of structures, and that term might be less liable to misunder- 
standing. However, sociology has used the term “ form” 
so long that its use will do no harm with this explanation. 

There have been several classifications of types of social 
organization. Spencer in his Principles of Sociology, after 
devoting a considerable part of the first volume to the Data of 
Sociology and the Inductions of Sociology, treats the remainder 
of the subject under the head of Institutions. In other words, 
his work is largely a study of social structure! He treats all 
social forms as institutions. He has a classification of what he 
calls social types and constitutions. It is a double classifi- 
cation. He classifies societies as simple, compound, doubly 
compound, and trebly compound. Secondarily, he classifies 
societies as militant or industrial, etc., according to their pre- . 
dominant activity.” 

Another classification which has been proposed is that be- 
tween sanctioned and unsanctioned forms of societies. The 
former would correspond with these institutions, or forms of 
social organization which have obtained the conscious approval 
of the group. Examples would be the monogamous family in 
Western Civilization, the state, and such voluntary organiza- 
tions as have been recognized by the formal action of state 
authorities. The latter are exemplified by such forms of rela- 
tionship as the polygamous family in the United States, mobs, 
gangs, and spontaneous groups. The drawback to this classi- 
fication is that it is not complete and that it is not clear cut. 
One cannot easily place in their proper category such groups 
as the primitive horde and family, or the brothel and saloon 
of to-day. It is incomplete because there is a distinct difference 
between an unsanctioned society whose purposes and activities 
promote the social welfare, and those which are anti-social in 
their genius.® 


1 See Small, General Sociology, p. 112. 
2 Principles of Sociology, Secs. 256-258. 
8 Ellwood, Sociology in its Psychological Aspects, p. 345. 


SOCIAL ORGANIZATION 107 


Professor Giddings has suggested a number of classifications. 
One of these is that according to component and constituent 
societies which we have already noticed. This classification 
is simple and has the advantage that the forms of societies fit 
into it in their genetic order of development.! Professor Gid- 
dings has also developed a psychological classification of methods 
of association under the categories “of presence”? and ‘in 
activity.” The former is based on common feeling, the latter 
on similar actions.2, However, in his last work he supplemented 
these simple classifications by another. He divides societies 
into animal and human, the latter being subdivided into ethnic 
and civil groups. He prefers, however, a classification on a 
psychological basis, according to instinctive and rational so- 
cieties, the former being characteristic of animal, and the latter 
to a preéminent degree of human societies. Rational societies 
he further divides into eight groups. See Part. I, Chap. I. 

He has also a classification of forms of social organization: 
(1) The Private and the Public, (2) the Unauthorized and the 
Authorized (institutions), (3) the Unincorporated and the In- 
corporated, (4) the Component, and (5) the Constituent. The 
term “ social organization ” as thus used connotes much the same 
as the term “ social structure,” although it is more definitely 
limited to those structures in which human relationships have be- 
come habitual? It is evident that these cross classifications 
are based upon formal social action by a group or the lack of it. 
The Public, the Authorized, the Incorporated, and the Constitu- 
ent are artificial creations by the conscious, associated actions of 
individuals. On the other hand, the Private, the Unauthorized, 
the Unincorporated, and the Component are spontaneous 
organizations on which deliberative and formal action by the 
group has not yet been taken. 

Professor Ross has suggested a classification of associational 
forms, naming them in the order of their predominating mental 
characteristics. He considers emotion the characteristic of a 
lower order of organization than thought, and a group “ with 
presence’ much less likely to be deliberative and rational 
than one “without presence.” Therefore, his classification 
is a cross classification as follows: 


1 Giddings, Principles of Sociology, Chaps. ITI, IV. 2Op. cit., pp. 376, 377. 
3 Descriptive and Historical Sociology, pp. 429-432. 


108 OUTLINES OF SOCIOLOGY 


With Presence Without Presence 
In order of | Crowds The public In order 
predomi- | Mass meetings of effi- 
nance of | Deliberative assemblies The sect clency 
emotion { Representative assemblies The corporation? of  or- 
rather ganiza- 
than of tion 


thought 


Crowds are more prone to undeliberative action, to fits of pas- 
sion, to domination by the less thoughtful minds than other 
forms of organization. The crowd provides many conditions 
for the generation of intense feelings, but the minimum of condi- 
tions for the generation of deliberative wisdom. The mass 
meeting is more self-controlled, and much less liable to be domi- 
nated solely by feeling. Deliberative assemblies are supposed 
to have their machinery so adjusted by rules of order which 
are designed to inhibit the dominance of feeling and give thought 
the right of way in order that in them emotion may dominate © 
still less and reason may hold sway — a theory not always 
realized in actual practice. In the representative assembly 
the calm deliberative thought of each person present is expressed 
by the vote, that feeling may be held in more complete subor- 
dination to reason.! 

In like manner those organizations which are without pres- 
ence differ not only in their characteristic mental reaction, but 
also in the efficiency of their respective forms of organization. 
The public, sect, and corporation correspond closely in their 
mental characteristics with crowds, deliberative assemblies, 
and representative assemblies respectively. They differ from 
each other in the increasing definiteness and efficiency of their 
organization. The sect is less amorphous than the public and 
the corporation less than the sect. Likewise the efficiency of 
each varies directly with the increased definiteness of organi- 
zation. 

This classification has the advantage of being psychological 
and sociological in its basic principles. It is psychological in 
that the serial arrangement is in the order of genetic develop- 


1Ross, Foundations of Sociology, Chap. VI. That such an ideal is not often 
reached in actual practice is urged by Ward, Outlines of Sociology, p. 278. 


SOCIAL ORGANIZATION 10g 


ment of mental characteristics. It is sociological by reason of 
its classification according to increasing social efficiency of 
organization. It is doubtful, however, whether the classifica- 
tion of societies ‘‘ with presence’ and ‘‘ without presence ”’ is 
valid. Is the sect, for example, one which can be placed in 
the second category? Both in their inception and for their 
continuance frequent personal contact between the members — 
and usually in masses — is necessary. Where in such a scheme, 
moreover, would be classified such a group as a “ husking bee,” 
a barn raising, or a regiment of soldiers? The classification, 
however, is suggestive, although incomplete. 

The classification of social forms “‘ with presence ”’ or “‘ with- 
out presence ” is at the basis of Professor Cooley’s division of 
social groups into primary and secondary. By primary groups 
he designates those characterized by intimate face-to-face 
association and codperation. They are primary in the sense 
that they are the means by which the individual is given his 
earliest and completest experience of social unity and in the 
sense that they are more unchanging than others. He cites 
as examples the family, the play groups of children, and the 
neighborhood or community group of elders. By the secondary 
he seems to indicate more elaborate groups resulting from more 
complex relations and springing out of the primary groups.” 

Any one is privileged to propose any classification which 
seems to him to serve best the purpose of making clear the partic- 
ular principle which he thinks it most important to have 
recognized in his presentation of the subject. To the writers 
the genetic point of view seems the most important. We under- 
stand things when we know how they came to be what they 
are. Therefore, it would seem best to have a classification of 
societies based upon the order of their development, supple- 
mented by a cross classification making clear the transition 
from the stage when social groupings were predominately either 
instinctive or sympathetic, and therefore spontaneous, to that 
in which the groupings were consciously purposeful. From 
this point of view, that of Giddings, which divides human so- 
cieties into instinctive and rational categories and the latter 
into eight types, offers a distinct advantage. It has the draw- 


1 Cooley, Social Organization, New York, 1909, pp. 23, 26, 27. 
3 OD. cit., p. 27. 


IIo OUTLINES OF SOCIOLOGY 


back, however, that it places the psychological bond which 
characterizes each form in the forefront of attention rather 
than genetic order and form. The following classification pre- 
sents in the probable genetic order of development a double 
classificatory scheme based upon Giddings’s types in which the 
chief emphasis is laid upon the striking difference between 
tribal and civil society as structurally organized. 


Ethnic — instinctive Civil — despotic 
Ethnic — sympathetic Civil — authoritative 
Ethnic — feudal Civil — conspirital 
Ethnic — authoritative — medicine man Civil — approbational 


Civil — contractual 
Civil — idealistic 


Without doubt there are forms of social structure, — using 
that term to designate groupings of human beings in social 
relationships, —in which the arrangements are instinctive, 
such as the family in the Andaman Islands among the Mincopis, . 
where it is doubtful whether the reason of the native has much 
part in the temporary stay which the male makes with the 
female until after the child is weaned. There are other forms 
which have more of the rational element in their formation, 
yet the predominating element is sympathy based upon a sense 
of close kinship, supplemented by the instinctive reactions of 
association. Other ethnic societies take a transitory form based 
on approbation by leaders, as, for instance, the social structure 
formed when kin-wrecked men gather about some leader of 
more ability than the rest, and they and he bind themselves 
together by bonds of feudal vassalage and lordship. Their 
wealth is not in land, but in cattle. Examples may be found 
among the early Irish and the Kaffirs. 

Still another form of social structure to be found among those 
tribally organized is the authoritative. It is based upon fear 
of authority hallowed by divine sanctions. Such authority 
is elther that of medicine man, priest, or priest-chieftain. 

Those in civil society need no further explanation beyond 
that given when naming Giddings’s types. 


SOCIAL ORGANIZATION IIL 


REFERENCES 


Cootey, C. H. Social Organization, Chap. III. 

DEGREEF, GUILLAUME. Introduction a la Soctologie, Part II. 

ExLtwoop, C. A. Sociology in tis Psychological Aspects, pp. 341-351. 

Gippincs, F. H. Principles of Sociology, pp. 153-196; Descriptive and His- 
torical Sociology, pp. 433-518. 

Ross, E. A. Foundations of Sociology, Chap. I. 

SMALL and VINCENT. Introduction to the Study of Sociology, pp. 169-214. 

SPENCER, HERBERT. Principles of Sociology, pp. 485-519. 


QUESTIONS AND EXERCISES 


1. How does a social structure differ from a biological structure? Give 
an example of each. 

2. What is the difference between an aggregation of human beings and a 
society? Give examples. 

3. Supposing that the people settled along the Atlantic Coast before the 
American Revolution could be described as an aggregation and the same 
people fifty years later an integrated society, what was the essential differ- 
ence? 

4. Trace the development of social structures in your own community 
from the days when a people was settled there with a tribal organization to 
the present, naming all the changes which have taken place both in number 
and kinds of structure. 

5. Illustrate what is meant by the process of integration in social matters. 

6. Describe the social composition of the people in your town. 

7. Describe the social constitution of the population in your village, block, 
or township. 

8. Take the following groups and carefully analyze the social interests 
and influences which cause the individual members of them to enter into 
social relationships: a picnic party, a debating society, a church, a bank 
corporation. 

9. Make a list of the names of the social structures represented in your 
own community and classify according to a suitable and, if necessary, 
an original scheme. 


CHAPTER V 


ORGANIZATION AND LIFE OF THE FAMILY 


The Family as a Social Unit.— The family frequently has 
been called a social unit because it is the smallest organized 
group of individuals and because it is the most constant factor 
among varying social organizations. It is an essential part 
of modern social life. In it the elements of the larger social 
life occur in such measure as to make it a means of training for 
social order. 

Up to a very recent period everywhere, and even yet where 
the industrial revolution has not come with the introduction 
of machine industry, the family was producer of wealth, to a . 
degree, also the distributing center for the goods made in the 
home, and in turn was the chief social agency concerned with 
the consumption of goods. The rights of property and per- 
son are learned and practiced in the family. Self-restraint, 
obedience, and service are taught, and each member knows by 
experience his relation to others and recognizes duties to be 
fulfilled and rights to be enjoyed. In the family, religion, 
morality, and general culture make their earliest and most 
lasting impressions. It matters not what form of general 
social order prevails, whether it be the loosely bound horde, the 
definitely organized patriarchal group, or the civil state, the 
family is a constant center from which issue influences tending 
at once to stimulate and to perpetuate social order. 

The Primitive Family. —It is difficult to determine the 
beginnings of the family. So far as historical records are con- 
cerned, it has always existed in some form. Moreover, among 
the lowest types of human beings and also among the higher 
apes family relationships exist. Doubtless natural selection 
secured a more or less definite form of family life among some 
birds and among the higher mammals! In the instinctive 

1Parmelee, The Science of Human Behavior, Chap. XIX. 
II2 


ORGANIZATION AND LIFE OF THE FAMILY L235 


stage the survival value of the codperation of both parents in 
the rearing of the young insured its establishment and continu- 
ance. 

Probably, like all other social institutions, it has had a slow 
and irregular evolution. The natural hypothesis for the earliest 
relation of the sexes is a state of promiscuity. Yet there are 
no living tribes in which a complete state of promiscuity actually 
exists nor is there any historical record of such a state. In the 
tribes that approach most nearly to this state, pairing for indefi- 
nite periods occurs. Under such circumstances family organi- 
zation lacks permanency, and family relationships are indefinite. 
Among all tribes: there are occasions when the regularity of 
sexual relations in the family is disturbed. It seems, however, 
that such irregularity may have come about in the transition 
from an instinctive control of sex relations to control by the 
developing reason of man. Without a broad basis of human 
experience it is not surprising if the strong passions of primitive 
man without the steadying control of the inhibitory instincts 
of animals sometimes led to practices which we now see to have 
been socially injurious. 

As the rearing of children is the central idea of family life, 
the form of family organization has always been modified to 
suit the conditions of ordered life. Hence,we find in the devel- 
opment of human society a great variety of matrimonial insti- 
tutions and we observe that the modern monogamic family 
with its established home relations is a result of an evolution. 
So important for social development are the changes in family 
life that some have estimated the progress of civilization by its 
evolution. 

The Metronymic Family.— Two chief systems of tracing 
descent are found in the history of society. They are the me- 
tronymic and the patronymic. In the former, descent is traced 
through mothers; in the latter, descent is traced through 
fathers. Until the appearance of Bachofen’s great work, Das 
Mutterrecht, in 1861, it was generally held that the patriarchal 
form familiar to us in the Biblical records and in the classic 
nations of antiquity was the original form of family. He 
found evidence, as he thought, of an early period in human 
society when women rather than men dominated the family. 
His researches were supplemented by McLennan in 1876 and 

; 


114 OUTLINES OF SOCIOLOGY 


by Morgan in 1877. The latter based his conclusions upon 
an extensive study of the American Indian tribes. McLennan 
and Morgan, however, were not interested so much as Bachofen 
in proving the existence of a matriarchate, — the dominance 
of the mother. But all the evidence they found pointed toward 
metronymy, or tracing descent through the mother, — quite 
a different thing from the matriarchate. Scholars generally 
agree now that among many primitive peoples a patriarchate 
either has never existed or else was preceded by a system of 
descent traced through mothers. Hence, rather than the term 
‘“‘matriarchate ”’ for this state of family life the term “ metro- 
nymic,” or maternal, family is preferred. In this form of family 
a child does not belong to the kindred of his father as in our 
patronymic form of the family, but to the kindred of his mother. 
On the other hand, control of the family rests not with the 
mother, but with the mother’s male kindred, although the 
women exercise much greater influence in the affairs of the 
group than under the patriarchal form of family. 

The Patronymic Family.— The patronymic form of family, 
on the other hand, is characterized by tracing the descent of 
children through the father and following the kindred of the 
father. This type of family developed the patriarchate or 
rule of the family by the father. It is illustrated in the classic 
family of antiquity and the family among the early Hebrews. 
This type of family will be illustrated more fully in another 
section. 

Genesis of These Forms of the Family. — The condition which 
gave rise to a metronymic form of family probably was not 
promiscuous sex relations among primitive peoples, as Morgan 
tried to show, but the fact that maternity was much more 
easily recognized than that of paternity.1 Moreover, the attach- 
ment of the child to the mother during infancy made the trac- 
ing of relationships through the mother a most natural pro- 
cedure. In addition to this was the fact that in all metronymic 
families the husband and father left his own kindred and went 
to live with his wife. She remained with her kindred. Where 
mates were selected from outside the kindred, the husbands, 
of course, were not of the same kin as the group into which 
they went. Many times, perhaps no two of the husbands of 


1 Spencer and Gillen, Northern Tribes of Central Australia, p. 150. 


ORGANIZATION AND LIFE OF THE FAMILY II5 


the women in that group were akin. Hence, in times when 
the social bond was kinship, control over the children naturally 
remained with the group in which they were born. Even more 
natural was it that they should be held to be akin to that 
group. 

Once established, the practice of tracing kinship through the 
mother would continue long after the fact of paternity was 
recognized. In fact, to break down the metronymic system 
it was necessary that new and powerful motives should operate. 

The development of a pastoral mode of life supplanting a 
hunting stage was the important economic influence in bringing 
about this change.. To follow the flock the family had to sepa- 
rate from other groups. Moreover, the labor of as many as 
possible was desirable to look after the herds. The man was 
not obliged to be absent so long from the home. Regularity 
of relations took the place of the irregularity entailed by a 
hunting economy. The wife was no longer indispensable as 
family provider because of the more dependable source of food 
in the flock. Moreover, the labor of sons in tending the flock 
became more valuable. 

War was another influence which broke down the metronymic 
family. Women were captured in war and of course were 
then under the control of their husbands. In fact, being spoils 
of war, they were now personal property. Children born to 
them were also the property of the captor. A modification 
of this plan is to be found in wife purchase. Similar results 
in relationships, however, were reached as in wife capture. 

The dominance of the male once established, religion entered 
in as a mighty force to uphold it. The worship of ancestors 
was probably not unknown in the metronymic family. This 
is suggested by the worship of female divinities. In the pat- 
ronymic family, however, ancestor worship gathered into a 
focus of mighty. power all the potentialities of male self-aggran- 
dizement. It debased woman, and gave rein to all the aggres- 
Sive propensities of the male. Sons had been desired from the 
economic point of view as workers and to feed the flock; from 

_ the social point of view, they were valuable as fighters; now 
they were desired intensely in order to carry on the worship of 
the ancestral spirits. ‘The woman was accursed who did not 
bear sons. She was not only useless to the group, but was 


116 OUTLINES OF SOCIOLOGY 


hated by the gods. Barrenness was the greatest curse that 
could befall a woman. Only less terrible was her fate who 
bore in her sorrow only females. The unchaste wife was not 
only a criminal in the eyes of the family and the group, but was 
a sinner in the sight of the gods. While ancestor worship sur- 
vived, death was the only possible fate of the adulteress. One 
great thing it accomplished, however, albeit at great cost, — 
it established female wedded chastity. 

The Early Forms of Marriage. — Family life existed before 
marriage ceremonies. Family life man has in common with 
the brutes. Marriage is a social institution strictly limited 
to human kind. It has been doubted whether certain tribes 
possess any positive marriage ceremonies; yet it is certain 
that among many of the lower tribes existing now, society 
tacitly approves very simple ceremonies, and every society 
thus far studied, however low in culture, regulates the family 
relationships. Marriage begins when a more or less formal 
assent must be secured by the groups most intimately concerned, 
as, for example, the families of the two persons concerned. 

How marriage sprang up out of a situation in which man 
and woman cohabited as they pleased can only be conjectured. 
Did the habit of society interfering with one of the most power- 
ful instincts grow up by reason of the fact that sons and daugh- 
ters were looked upon as possessions which could not be taken 
away without consent? Or did it originate with the strong 
man imposing his dominating habit as a general law for all men 
of his tribe in their dealings with women? Or, was it the fruit 
of male jealousy? Or, again, did it arise, as Ward suggested, 
‘“‘to prevent incessant strife among men for the possession and 
retention of women ’’—the conscious necessity of intertribal 
peace for social survival — after man had become conscious 
of the need of a more permanent and satisfactory form than 
ephemeral marriage ? 4 

Certain authors, like McLennan, have attempted to show 
the evolution of marriage from a state of promiscuity to the 
modern monogamic marriage. While such a regular order of 
development does not seem to be firmly established, yet all 
the forms of marriage from temporary pairing to monogamy 
have been found in human society. Many of the lower 


1 Ward, Dynamic Sociology, Vol. I, p. 617. 


ORGANIZATION AND LIFE OF THE FAMILY Tly 


tribes living to-day have very indefinite family relationships 
and forms of marriage entirely different from our own, yet it 
is difficult to assume that all mankind has passed regularly 
- through all these forms of marriage as Spencer seemed to assume 
in his Principles of Sociology. However, if we examine primi- 
tive society, we shall find instances of marriage with very little 
ceremony and, in some cases, a condition approaching pro- 
miscuity. At least conditions are found where people mingle 
rather freely with the minimum of social regulation of their 
relations. On the other hand, among some of the groups of 
human beings lowest in the scale of culture, we find arrangements 
for the care of the child by the group.!' There are other evi- 
dences of the union of a pair for a given time, until the child is 
born or until he reaches the age of independence of his mother. 
Another type of marriage permits the man to live with the 
woman at his convenience, giving him the right to choose a 
new mate whenever he pleases. Often, however, this right is 
subject to rather strict limitations by the wife’s relatives.? 
Also the later forms of polygyny and polyandry have been 
practiced by many tribes or nations at a certain stage of their 
development. Under certain customs men had the right of 
choosing more than one wife; under others women had more 
than one husband. In some instances a group of brothers 
married a group of sisters. Then in the process of develop- 
ment the system of concubinage sprang up. The elimination 
of all other forms finally left the marriage of one man to one 
woman for life, —a form of marriage which we find persisting 
along with the others from first to last. While it may not be 
possible to show that all humanity passed regularly through 
these various stages of matrimonial life, still it is true that the 
modern pure home life has been the result of an evolution, and 
that there is a wide difference between primitive and modern 
marriage.® 

We may thus summarize the various forms of marriage: 
A pairing arrangement of short duration is perhaps the simplest 
form of family relationships. Such an arrangement is to be 

1 Howard, review of Malinowski, The Family among the Australian Aborigines, 
American Journal of Sociology, March, 1914, pp. 670, 671. 

2 Giddings, Descriptive and Historical Sociology, pp. 443-447. 


8 Westermarck, History of Human Marriage, Chaps. I-VI. Howard, History of 
Matrimonial Institutions, Vol. I, Chaps. I-III. 


118 OUTLINES OF SOCIOLOGY 


found among the Mincopis of the Andaman Islands. The 
father remains with the mother until the child is weaned. 
Relations lasting somewhat longer, but still temporary, have 
been observed among the Australian Aborigines, some of the 
Indians of Brazil, and the natives of northern Greenland.! 

Group marriage of a rather peculiar kind has been reported 
from the Hawaiian Islands. When first discovered by Captain 
Cook there were found there families made up of a group of 
brothers married to a group of sisters. Each man was the 
husband of every woman and each woman was the wife of every 
man in the family. A similar situation seems to exist among 
the Todas of India to-day.” 

Polyandry, or the family relation in which one woman has 
more than one husband, has been described most carefully by 
travelers in Thibet and a section of India. In these two places 
two distinct types of polyandry have been observed. One 
or other of these forms with many variations has been observed 
elsewhere. Giddings has collected testimony showing a simi- 
lar state of things in Ceylon, although much intermixed with 
the Thibetan form of polyandry and with polygyny.? 

Polygyny is a better name than polygamy for that form of 
the family in which one man has several wives. Polygyny 
means many wives, while polygamy means many marriages. 
Polygyny is a term used in contrast with polyandry. In polyg- 
yny sometimes the wives are of equal rank; often, however, 
there is one principal wife and several subordinate wives known 
as concubines. 

Monogamy is the term used to designate that form of family 
life in which one man and one woman form family relations for 
life. This form has tended to displace the other forms in so- 
cieties advanced in culture and capable of conscious consider- 
ation of the effects of the various forms of family relationships 
as well as in the less developed societies where economic condi- 
tions have made it impossible for a man to support more than 
one wife. 

While for purposes of clearness we have set forth these vari- 
ous types of family as isolated phenomena, in actual life they 


1 Giddings, Principles of Sociology, p. 155, and authorities cited there. 
2 Giddings, op. cit., p. 156. 
® Descriptive and Historical Sociology, pp. 443-445. 


ORGANIZATION AND LIFE OF THE FAMILY 119g 


generally exist side by side. Thus, polyandry often is found 
in bleak and inhospitable regions where men have difficulty 
in supporting each a family and where the economic conditions 
have made women of small economic value so that female 
infants are often killed. Sometimes, however, it probably 
arose from religious motives. Side by side with it often exist 
polygyny and monogamy, as in Ceylon, and even in Thibet. 
Polygyny also is never the only form in any society. It would 
be impossible to have it universal since the world over, so far as 
we know, about as many males are born as females. Usually the 
rich practice it while the poor are monogamous or polyandrous. 

Conditions of Primitive Family Life. — In primitive society 
the food supply was limited and the protection against the 
climate through clothing and houses was meager, and only a 
few primitive industries were carried on by unskilled hands. 
Machinery and power derived from the forces of nature were 
not developed. The political organization was not well de- 
veloped. Even where the beginnings of general social order 
appeared, there were no politics and no state as we know them 
to-day. Religion, in many instances, was an unorganized 
superstition without an ethical element. The family, existing 
under such circumstances, had no outside power or regulation 
to summon to its support. It stood alone, and bore all of the 
responsibility of the social order. It was the result of the blind 
forces of nature. Produced by natural selection rather than 
by the conscious purpose of man, its sanctions were either in- 
stinctive, superstitious, or economic. 

The Ancient Monogamic Family.— The evidence among 
the Greeks and, in fact, among all the groups of the Aryan race, 
so far as their history can be determined, shows that the mono- 
gamic family was one of their cherished institutions. The 
pure home life consequent upon the union of one pair for life 
exercised a perpetual influence on the development of the char- 
acter of the Aryan people. The little family group had its 
own religious life, its own social advantages, giving protection 
and care to the young and old alike. The family group was 
enlarged both by natural increase and by adoption. There 
was a tendency for grown-up children to remain within the 
family circle. Hence, this ancient organization represented 
a large group of relatives compactly organized. 


120 OUTLINES OF SOCIOLOGY 


The Patriarchal Family. — A peculiar form of the ancient 
family has become known as the patriarchal. It appears 
strongest among the Semites and Aryans. It represents the 
leadership of the eldest male member of the group. He was 
at the head of the family or group of families representing all 
the relatives by blood, marriage, or adoption. Holding it 
in trust, he virtually owned all the property of the whole family 
of which he was the supreme ruler. In some societies he had 
the power of life or death over each member. In others, even 
in primitive societies, among the Australian Aborigines, for 
example, as Malinowski points out, it is limited by the blood 
vengeance of the woman’s relatives He was priest, judge, 
king, military leader, lawmaker, and chief executive of all 
social affairs. This family was not ruled by law or decree so 
much as by custom. Each member was born under status, 
not under law. Indeed, the patriarchal leader himself was 
bound by the customs of his fathers. Yet essentially there 
must have been a slow development of customs, otherwise law 
and the state could never have risen. 

The Influence of Religion on Family Life.*— So close was 
the relation of religion to early family life that some authors 
have made it the foundation of the family. They are wrong, 
for the family rests primarily upon a biological rather than a 
religious basis. Yet in each stage of social evolution religion 
has strengthened the ties of the family and added to its power. 
In the development of matrimonial institutions religion has 
exercised an important influence. This is most clearly observed 
in the patriarchal family. Among the Aryan people we find 
an especially good illustration of the effect of ancestor worship. 
It tended to strengthen kinship, to give it unity, dignity, and 
power. Each family group had its private family altar and 
family worship, to which no stranger could be admitted. Each 
family group worshipped its patronym or hero, the eldest male 
member, the founder of the race. Libations were poured to 
his departed spirit, and prayers were uttered in his name. This 
custom established the unity of the family groups and developed 
their power to resist enemies in the struggle for existence. 


1 Howard in review of Malinowski, The Family Among the Australian Aborigines, 
in American Journal of Sociology, March, 1914, p. 671. 
2 See Chap. XIII, Part Il. 


ORGANIZATION AND LIFE OF THE FAMILY I2I 


Association, too, came to be limited by religion. Those 
without the religious pale were considered unworthy of asso- 
ciation, much less of close union. This was an incident of the 
integration of the family life. Intensity of feeling and narrow- 
ness often go together. Thus the Hebrew scorned the Gentile, 
the Greek and the Roman the Barbarian, the patrician the 
plebeian. The religious life, especially after tribal organization 
had been well developed, had much to do with the development 
of separate racial characteristics. It aided in the process of 
group unification. It made more apparent similarity within 
the group by making more apparent the difference between 
members of the group and those outside it. In the period when 
kinship was giving way to mental and moral likeness as the 
social bond, religion came to be the chief maker of groups.! 

The Psychical Influences in Family Organization. — The 
development of the sentiment of love within the family has 
had enormous consequences in the creation and preservation of 
social order. The propagation of the race has become the foun- 
dation of all the finer sentiments of human affection; the home 
and the family have fostered and developed love in the 
human race. While it cannot be said that the family and the 
home are the only bases for altruistic sentiments and codpera- 
tion, the highest developments of altruism have owed’ more to 
the family and the home than to any other influences. Remove 
the sentiments arising out of this idea and the fabric of society 
would not stand the strain of the savage instincts of mankind. 
The family relationships have brought to their present develop- 
ment the harmony of feeling, thought, and will which enables 
people to associate for innumerable purposes. The art of liv- 
ing together profitably and harmoniously has its foundation 
in the love sentiment brought about by family unity.? 

The Economic Basis of Family Life. — As already observed, 
the family represents an early producing unit of society. In 
the definitely organized families of ancient times the product 
of the chase and the spontaneous products of the soil were 
brought to the homes to be held in common and to be distributed 


1For a concrete illustration of the operation of this principle in a group, see 
Gillin, The Dunkers, A Sociological Interpretation, pp. 107, 108, 151, 152. 

2Drummond, Ascent of Man, Chaps. VII-[X. Ward, Dynamic Sociology, Vol. 
I, pp. 610-613. 


122 OUTLINES OF SOCIOLOGY 


among the members of the household. Later, in the pastoral 
and agricultural periods, arose a communal ownership of prop- 
erty. Lands, herds, and flocks belonged to the household, or 
expanded family. The house and all the more directly personal 
goods and chattels belonged to the small family group or else 
to the individual members of the group. In every instance the 
home became an economic center. Although the income of 
a modern family generally flows through an individual who is 
the head of the family, others working faithfully in the preserva- 
tion of that which is acquired and in its proper use, the family 
is not so economically united as it once was. The economic 
unity of the family is well illustrated, too, in Colonial times in 
America, when the weaving, spinning, and the making of gar- 
ments were performed in the home and when, indeed, nearly 
all of the implements about the house and farm were of home 
manufacture. The early Colonial family showed to a large 
extent the character of the primitive home before division of 
labor and power manufacture had come into use. But even 
to-day there are many articles of wealth produced every year 
in American homes. This is seldom reckoned in the estimate 
of the wealth-producing power of the community, although the 
product of home manufacture amounts to millions of dollars 
a year, not to mention the fact that in our present factory 
system usually most, if not all, the adult members of the 
family are at work and share in the production of the family 
income, 

Economic Changes and their Effects upon the Family. — 
The changes which have come into our economic life in the 
past fifty years have seriously affected family life. The in- 
creased earning capacity of women and the opportunities 
offered them to make their own living, by enabling them to be 
more independent, have impaired the old-time unity of the 
family group. Homes become places of domicile for individuals 
of the family, while each maintains his own share of the expenses 
and lives an independent economic life. 

With the advent of factory life, however, and the consequent 
massing of laborers, the economic function of the home has 
become of steadily decreasing importance. Hence it has come 
to pass that seven millions of our women do their work outside 
the home. In mill, office, and shop they spend their days rather 


ORGANIZATION AND LIFE OF THE FAMILY 123 


than in the home. Industry itself has well-nigh destroyed the 
economic basis of the home. It has made the woman who has 
remained in the home more dependent economically. Her 
services are narrowed to the biological function of bearing chil- 
dren and the social function of rearing them. If she leaves the 
home in order to contribute to the support of the family (ful- 
filling again her primordial economic duty), under the new condi- 
tions, her functions as bearer and rearer of children are sadly 
interfered with. Moreover, even as affecting the male members 
of the family, modern industry has had serious results upon 
the family and the home. Often it has taken the husband and 
father away from the home so that he can no longer help to 
rear the family. He no longer is the important social factor 
in the home that he once was. Once he worked in his shop in 
the home. There his children played, or, when old enough, 
worked with him. His presence was constantly a restraining 
and guiding influence. Now he works away from his home. 
Furthermore, the influence of the family and home upon the 
children has been much interfered with by the change from the 
domestic to the factory system of industry. Once the chil- 
dren contributed to the support of the family by working with 
their parents in the home. Now, if they share in the economic 
burdens of the family, they must leave its fostering care. The 
home, after sixteen at latest, often becomes merely a boarding 
house. In 1909, in manufactures alone, 19.5 per cent of the 
wage earners of the United States were women, while 2.4 per 
cent of the wage earners were under sixteen years of age.! In 
1900 only 18.4 per cent of the women bread earners were en- 
gaged in work which took them out of their homes. 18.8 per 
cent of all the women of the United States in 1900 were engaged 
in gainful occupations other than agriculture. This phenom- 
enon is not confined to America, however. In fact, only 
Russia has a smaller percentage of her women engaged as 
bread winners. In the United States 14.3 per cent of the 
women are bread earners. In Great Britain 24.9 per cent, in 
France 33 per cent, in Germany 25 per cent, while in Austria it 
rises to 44 per cent.? Illustrating the tendency of modern 
industry to take from the home the man as well as the woman, 


1 Abstract of the Thirteenth Census of the United States, 1910, Pp. 457. 
2 New Encyclopedia of Social Reform, p. 845. 


124 OUTLINES OF SOCIOLOGY 


is the fact that in 1900 613 per cent of the men in the United 
States were engaged in occupations other than agriculture, 
making it perfectly safe to assume that at least 65 per cent were 
engaged in work which took them away from home and family. 

Effects of Other Social Changes upon the Home. — The 
school took out of the home for five days each week over eight- 
een millions of children in 1909.1 Even play is often impos- 
sible in connection with the home in cities. 

Moreover, the isolated home of former days has been under- 
going serious changes in recent years. In 1890 in the United 
States 34.1 per cent of farm homes, 63.1 per cent of other homes, 
and 52.2 per cent of all homes were rented. In 1900 the per- 
centages for each of these classes of homes were 35.6 per cent, 
63.8 per cent, and 53.9 per cent. In 1910 the percentages 
showed that 37.2 per cent of farm homes, 61.6 per cent of other 
homes, and 54.2 per cent of all homes were rented by the occu- 
pants.” Thus, from 1890 to 1910 there was a steady increase 
in the number of rented farm homes. The increase in the num- 
ber of other than farm homes which were rented went on from 
1890 to 1g0o but decreased in the decade between 1900 and 
1910. The percentage of all homes in this country which are 
occupied by others than their owners has steadily risen. In- 
creasingly we are losing that attachment to one spot which has 
helped to make the home a stable institution. Not only is 
there much truth in the maxim “ three moves are as bad as a 
fire,” but socially the constant moving which a rented house 
incurs is detrimental to family life. How much are the senti- 
ments of loyalty to the home connected with constant attach- 
ment to one spot! Certainly, while mere physical contact 
with a pile of lumber or brick would not seem to engender the 
tender sentiments involved in love of home, yet in reality living 
in one spot, the sense of familiarity with a place, has something 
to do with the origin and strength of these sentiments. Pride 
of appearance, sense of ownership, and development of interest 
in family affairs have much better chance to develop when the 
family owns the home. 

This movement away from ownership of the home is espe- 
cially remarkable in the large centers of population. In fifty 


1 Abstract of the Thirteenth Census, 1910, p. 210. 
2 Thirteenth Census of the United States, 1910, Vol. I, p. 1295. 


ORGANIZATION AND LIFE OF THE FAMILY 125 


cities of the United States in 1910 only one, Spokane, Wash- 
ington, had less than half of its families living in rented houses. 
In thirty-nine of these cities fully three fifths of the homes 
were rented, in sixteen of them more than three fourths of the 
homes were rented. In New York City as a whole, nearly 
nine tenths (88.3 per cent) of the homes were rented. In the 
Borough of Manhattan alone of that city, less than 3 per cent 
of the families owned their homes.! 

Liberalization of Thought and its Effects upon Family Ideals. 
— Furthermore, it must not be forgotten that the tendency 
of the changes in the form of industry just discussed to bring 
about a change in the nature of the family has been supple- 
mented by other influences. Once political opinions were 
formed in the home. Each man was of the same political party 
as his father. In America, however, during the last few years, 
there has grown up a spirit of independence in politics. The 
recent rise of the “‘mugwump,” the “insurgent,” and the 
“ progressive ”’ show a growing independence in political opinion 
in our American life. 

This same independence of thought about fundamentals 
has shown itself in religious matters. Within the past forty 
years there has taken place in the minds of religious people in 
the United States a “ liberalization’ of thought along theo- 
logical lines which has manifested itself most markedly in the 
lessening of interdenominational strife and a growing tendency 
to emphasize common rather than mutually distinctive de- 
nominational doctrines. Yet, the individual freedom which 
made possible in this country such a number of religious sects 
as in no other country in the world has gone on multiplying 
sects in spite of the evident desire on the part of the older ones 
to get closer together. Both these tendencies have shown the 
freedom which has characterized our American life and thought. 
More than that, it is during the past forty years that the very 
foundations of belief have been put to question. There has 
occurred a veritable revolution in theological beliefs. The 
preaching of to-day is no more like that of a generation ago 
than the science of to-day is like that of the eighteenth century. 
Churches are revising their creeds, others, recognizing the far- 
reaching changes involved in the liberal tendency, are banning 

1 Thirteenth Census of the United States, 1910, Vol. I, p. 1208. 


126 OUTLINES OF SOCIOLOGY 


liberalism in theology. Individual judgment in religious mat- 
ters has gone so far that many people think that the very founda- 
tions of faith are being undermined. 

In science also the most revolutionary changes have taken 
place in the past half century. Scarcely any opinion is held 
by scientists to-day which was the common teaching of science 
then. That is especially true of the biological sciences, but al- 
most as true of the rest. Darwin gave an impetus to the scien- 
tific spirit which has not yet ended in its revolutionary results, 
but which already has swamped the old world of scientific 
notions. It has become the scientific attitude to treat with a 
critical spirit old theories as well as new ones. The critical 
spirit is the proper spirit of the scientific investigator. It is 
only by having an open mind that any progress is made in the 
discovery of new truth. During this time everything has been 
questioned. First it was “natural” science which fell under 
the light from the new point of view, and then every other phase 
of human life subject to investigation and speculation gradually 
fell under the spell of the spirit of doubt and inquiry. Once 
all was settled. Now much is still unsettled in spite of the 
work of more than fifty years. 

Likewise, in education, great changes have come. Here, 
too, questions impossible a half century ago are being asked 
about our school system. The American school, for so many 
years the palladium of our liberties and the shibboleth of the 
orator, has fallen upon evil days. Once a sacred institution 
not to be questioned, but to be adored, now it is the football 
in the center of every educational scrimmage! Everywhere 
there is questioning and change in educational methods. 

This same spirit is abroad in all spheres of life. Doubt 
of the old, and searchings for new foundations are everywhere 
manifest. It has reached even the family. That institution 
which we once thought was created in the Garden of Eden is 
said by travelers to exist in quite different forms in other and 
more primitive countries. Careful study has made it probable 
that there have gradually developed various forms of the family. 
These facts becoming known, it was easy to connect them with 
this questioning spirit of the age. These two influences, coupled 
with the change which has been going on in the economic 
basis of the family, and with the new freedom which has risen 


ORGANIZATION AND LIFE OF THE FAMILY 127 


on the horizon of the weaker sex, has produced dire results for 
the sanctions of the family tie. 

Furthermore, within the family itself, great changes have 
been going on, as shown by the decreasing size of the family 
decade after decade. In all the United States the family has 
grown smaller and the number of persons for each dwelling 
less. The number of persons to a family in the last two decades, 
1890 to 1910, decreased from 4.9 to 4.5 and from 1850 to 1910 
from 5.6 to 4.5, while the number to a dwelling fell from 5.5 
to 5.2. In certain parts of the country, especially in the large 
cities, however, the number per dwelling increased. For 
example, in New York City, Manhattan Borough, persons to 
a dwelling increased from 19.9 in 1890 to 30.9 in 1910,! pointing 
not only to larger families in cities, but to the presence of 
boarders. The isolated home in that city is fast losing ground. 
People are becoming cliff dwellers in tenement and apartment 
houses owned by others. Large families are the exception. 
The Twelfth Census reported that only 2,929,799 families had 
more than seven members.” And this is in New York City, 
where the presence of great numbers of the foreign born mask 
the prevailing tendency among American families. 

_ The Small or the Large Family. — From the standpoint of 
the family’s welfare, there are two different and seemingly 
opposing sets of circumstances which should be faced. The 
smaller the size of the family, the better the care and the more 
money that can be spent on the children. That means better 
clothing, food, education carried further, and a better chance 
to get the higher-paid jobs. Moreover, it means better training 
in the home. The mother will have more time and strength 
to lavish on each one. On the other hand, it is a question 
whether the child who is reared in the home with adults or with 
only one other child enjoys the same socializing influence which 
is the privilege of the child reared in a large family. The give 


1 Thirteenth Census of the United States, 1910, Vol. I, p. 1280. 

2 Twelfth Census of the United States, 1910, Vol. II, p. clxxi. On the question 
of the reasons for the decrease of the size of the American family, see Commander, 
The American Idea? passim. A good brief survey of the facts concerning the de- 
creasing size of the family in all civilized lands is to be found in Ellis, The Task of 
Social Hygiene, Boston and New York, 1012, Chap. V, ‘The Significance of a 
Falling Birth Rate.” For a comprehensive discussion of the whole question with 
special reference to American conditions, see Ross, Changing America, Chaps. III-V. 


128 OUTLINES OF SOCIOLOGY 


and take of child democracy is often lacking in the small family. 
One has only to observe in rural districts the greater family 
affection manifested by the members of large families than 
that seen in families with few children. In this case, however, 
as in so many such, much depends on the conditions of life in 
the two kinds of families. Without a doubt, the child reared 
in the small needy family is better off than the children of a 
large family in similar circumstances. When they can all 
stay in the home, doubtless it is best for children to be reared 
in a large family. On the other hand, where there are so many 
that the older ones are driven to work in some shop or factory 
at the earliest possible age, huddled into small and ill-kept 
rooms called a home, forced to get their recreation and do their 
courting on the street, or at least outside the home, it is quite 
certain that the large family of children has no advantage over 
the only child.? 

No doubt the present tendency towards small families has a 
direct connection with the changed attitude towards the home 
and especially towards the family. When there were available 
in the United States free farms, and where there was great need 
for men to people and subdue the wilderness, and either farming 
or the domestic system of manufacture was the method of mak- 
ing a living, a large family was an asset. Moreover, large 
families had the benefit of a religious sanction. “ Children of 
the youth are a heritage from the Lord; Blessed is the man 
that hath his quiver full of them,” was Scripture, and also good 
economics. Moreover, it accorded well with the habits of 
the European peasants who had peopled the Colonies. With- 
out a doubt there has developed a conscious recognition of 
the economic and social advantages of the small family and 
deliberate limitation of the number of children by American 
families in the last half century. 

The Marriage Rate and the Family. — In connection with 
the smaller number of children per family should be considered 
the striking fact that the marriage rate has increased in the 
United States in the last thirty years. In 1890 it was 316 
per ten thousand of adult unmarried population and in 1900 
it was 321. The United States did not stand alone in that 
tendency. It characterized more than two thirds of the lead- 

1 Breckenridge and Abbott, The Delinquent Child and the Home, Chap. VII. 


ORGANIZATION AND LIFE OF THE FAMILY 129 


ing countries of the world, according to statistics available 
in 1906.! 

Various factors may contribute to the decrease in the size 
of the family. It may be due to the later age at which people 
marry, or to voluntary limitation of the family, or both. Or it 
may be due to increasing physiological inability to have chil- 
dren due to vice or other causes. Mayo-Smith gives some figures 
which seem to show that a thousand women of the age group 
from fifteen to twenty generally have more children than the 
same number from any other five-year period.? If, therefore, 
there are any customs which make for a later marriage by 
women, we should expect the number of children to become 
smaller per family. The reports of the last Census, however, do 
not show any such postponement of marriage by the youth of the 
United States. Instead of that tendency, the figures show an 
increase from 1890 to 1910 in the proportion of married youths 
in the group from 15 to 19 years of age.* A similar increase in 
percentage of married persons from 1890 to 1910 is to be seen 
in the age group, 20 to 24. These facts directly contradict 
the assumption sometimes made in discussions on race suicide 
that the marriage rate has been decreasing in the United States.* 
On the contrary, in the fecund age classes at least, the marriage 
rate has been increasing. Therefore, the decrease in the size 
of the family must be due to other factors than postponement 
of marriage or cessation of marriage. 

Race Suicide and the Family. — The following table, how- 
ever, shows unmistakably that from 1870 to 1910 there has 
been a considerable decrease in the number of children in the 
United States.5 

1 Marriage and Divorce, Census Bulletin No. 96, 1908, p. 9. While the figures 
for the years previous to 1890 are not reliable, the census authorities computed, 
on. the basis of reports from those counties in which the returns were ostensibly 
complete, that the rate per 10,000 population in 1870 was 98, 91 in 1880, 91 in 1890, 
and 93 in 1900. In percentages at the last three censuses, the proportion of the 


population which had been married was 43.7 per cent in 1890, 44.8 per cent in 1900, 
and 47.1 per cent in 1910. Thirteenth Census of the United States, 1910, Vol. I, p. 
523. 

2 Statistics and Sociology, New York, 1904, p. 114. 

3 Thirteenth Census of the United States, 1910, Vol. I, pp. 514, 515. 

4 Emerick, ‘‘A Neglected Factor in Race Suicide,” in Political Science Quarterly, 
Vol. XXV, pp. 638-655. 
’ Compiled from the Thirteenth Census of the United States, 1910, Vol. I, p. 
301. 


K 


130 OUTLINES OF SOCIOLOGY 


AGE PERIOD POPULATION 
1910 1890 | 1880 | 1870 
Under 5 years. .| 11.6 12.2 | 13.8 | 14.3|Percentage of total 
5 to 14 years .| 20.5 23.3 | 24.3 | 24.9] population 





The following table shows that the increasing limitation of 
number of children per family has characterized the urban to a 
greater extent than the rural population, although the tend- 
ency is clearly evident in both.! 


CITIES UNDER 25,000 AND RURAL DISTRICTS 


1910 1900 1890 


Under 5 years . . 12.4 12.6 12.6 Percentage of total popula- 
ROTA VeaTs s.r 6 O22 Tea Atm 2Aly tion 


Cities of 25,000 to 100,000 


Under. 5. vears (4°. 0.7) 10.0 1 1Or2 
EMO LTA VVCATS yes Lab ye ean nd Gat 


Cities of 100,000 and over 


Uncers pveats 2) 25017 et 0.0 9) LOO 
SOTA Yeats 02) s16;908710:27 (10.0 


These figures make it probable that social factors rather than 
physiological have played the important part in the reduction 
of the birth rate. It is impossible to say what part of the 
lessened birth rate may be due to vice or a weakened stock. 
All sorts of assumptions have been made, but so far we have 
no figures on which to base any very safe conclusions. It is 
said, for example, that 75 per cent of the special surgical opera- 
tions on women and 8o per cent of all deaths due to inflamma- 
tory diseases peculiar to women are due to the results of venereal 


1Thirteenth Census of the United States, Vol. I, p. 432. In considering 
these figures one must not forget that the large cities are the centers to which 
come the most of the immigrants, chiefly adults, whose large numbers would tend 
to lessen the percentage of children in those cities, nor, on the other hand, that 
the immigrant families are the most fecund in our population. 


ORGANIZATION AND LIFE OF THE FAMILY 131 


infection.! Dr. Prince A. Morrow estimates that 50 per cent 
of the women infected with the venereal disease are rendered 
sterile, and believes that a large proportion of the sterile mar- 
riages are such not from choice, but from incapacity. It has 
been argued, therefore, that the lessened fecundity of women 
is due to inability to bear children. Interesting though these 
suggestions are, there have been no careful investigations 
which enable us to be certain of the part which these physio- 
logical influences have had.? 

Moreover, the question of the effect of certain poisons on 
the vigor of the children born of parents addicted to their use 
is unsettled. There is a general belief, however, held by many 
medical men that such poisons do tend to cause weakness of 
the offspring, if not sterility of the parents. These beliefs 
are based for the most part upon experiments on animals. Dr. 
Hodge found that cocker spaniels given a certain amount of 
alcohol each day showed a greater tendency to have deformed 
or weak progeny, than a pair to which no alcohol was given. 
Out of 23 puppies born to the alcoholic pair, only 17.4 per cent 
were viable, while out of 45 puppies born to the non-alcoholic 
pair, 90.2 per cent were viable. Moreover, of the 23 puppies 
of the alcoholic pair, 8 were born deformed and 9 were born 
dead, while of the 45 non-alcoholic dogs only 4 were deformed 
and none were born dead. In connection with the published 
results of these experiments, Dr. Hodge published the results 
of an investigation by Demme on alcoholic and non-alcoholic 
families, showing similar results on human progeny.’ 

Certainly the experiment on the dogs under strict scientific 
control is significant. One cannot be so sure with reference to 
the families reported on by Demme. It must be added, more- 
over, that some recent investigations by Pearson and his stu- 
dents and assistants at the Galton Laboratory at the University 
of London have not shown any positive relationship between 
alcoholism and weakness in the children.4 


1Dr. Prince A. Morrow, ‘‘Social Diseases and the Family,” Publications of the 
American Sociological Society, Vol. III, p. 50. 

2See Ross, ‘‘Western Civilization and the Birth-Rate,’’ American Journal of 
Sociology, Vol. XII, pp. 607-617; Ely, Evolution of Industrial Society, pp. 164-168. 

3 Billings, Physiological Aspects of the Liquor Problem, Vol. I, pp. 373, 374- 

4Elderton, A First Study of the Influence of Parental Alcoholism on the Physique 
and Ability of the Offspring, Eugenics Laboratory Memoirs, University of London. 


132 OUTLINES OF SOCIOLOGY 


Much more important, however, from some points of view, 
are the social influences which play upon woman to reduce her 
effective fecundity. By that term is meant her ability, not 
only to bring children into the world, but to give them that 
measure of vitality and care which will enable them to reach 
maturity. It is certain that the occupation of women in fac- 
tories, especially married women, results in great infant mor- 
tality, and thus reduces their effective fecundity. A birth 
rate is of no consequence in the discussion of this matter. The 
important thing is not the number born, but the number reared 
to maturity. That is why the figures last given are of more 
importance than birth rates. Four investigations have recently 
been reported bearing upon this problem. Dr. Rosalie S. 
Morton of New York City made an investigation in that city 
of the effect of work in stores, shops, and factories upon the 
health of women. She came to the conclusion on the basis of 
that investigation and of other investigations which she re- 
viewed in her paper that “‘ women may work in practically any 
field of modern industry, and not only retain but increase their 
standard of health. But they must be given hygienic and 
properly arranged buildings in which to work, and they and their 
employers taught the common sense of the laws of health.’’} 
Dr. George Reid, the county medical officer, Staffordshire, 
England, in reporting an investigation in six pottery towns in 
that county, showed that the deaths of children under one year 
of age born to ‘‘ home mothers ” was 146 per 1000 births, while 
of those born to mothers working in factories or away from 
home during the day the rate rose to 209. He also found that 
women working in lead works showed a much greater tendency 
to miscarriages and stillbirths.? Dr. John Robertson, health 
officer of Birmingham, England, in an inquiry covering the 
women in one of the poorest sections of Birmingham, where 
the population was of very much the same status economically 
and socially and where just half the married women of child- 
bearing age worked outside the home, found that 52 per thou- 
sand of the women employed before confinement gave birth to 


1 Transactions of the Fifteenth International Congress on Hygiene and Demography, 
Washington, 1913, Vol. ITI, p. o4r1. 

2 Transactions of the Fifteenth International Congress on Hygiene and Demog- 
raphy, Vol. III, pp. 945, 946. 


ORGANIZATION AND LIFE OF THE FAMILY — 133 


children prematurely, in comparison with 38 per thousand of 
those who were not thus employed. Yet the mortality of 
infants of employed mothers was less than that of those who 
were not employed. Bad condition of the infants a year old 
occurred in the proportion, however, of 57 in the case of the 
children of employed mothers to 63 among the children of un- 
employed mothers. He came to the conclusion, nevertheless, 
that unfavorable conditions growing out of poverty in the family 
were much more inimical to the welfare of the children of these - 
people in that part of Birmingham than employment outside 
the home.!. In America an investigation at Fall River, Massa- 
chusetts, showed that the proportion of deaths of the infants 
of working mothers in that city from diarrhea, enteritis, and 
gastritis — the diseases which caused more than two thirds 
of the deaths — was over 80 per cent in excess of that of infants 
whose mothers remained at home.? Moreover, those homes 
where the women do not work are better kept, the men are 
more sober — though that may mean either that the men are 
sober on account of the good home, or that women of intemper- 
ate husbands work in order to eke out a living for the family — 
and the children are better cared for, are healthier, and the 
family ties are stronger.? 

It must not be forgotten, however, that the home from which 
the mother goes out to work does not stand alone in this story 
of family disorganization. Studies have been made which 
show that the comfortable home, with a mother who is not 
employed outside, furnishes its quota of derelicts.4 The spoiled 
child is to be found in such homes. Such homes are the fruits 
of the modern questioning of all things old already discussed. 
Even reverence for parents has not escaped question and as a 
result respect and reverence have given way to a rank individ- 
ualism which has undermined the family at its very founda- 
tions. 


1Transactions of the Fifteenth International Congress on Hygiene and Demog- 
raphy, Vol. III, pp. 949, 950. 

2 Transactions of the Fifteenth International Congress on Hygiene and Demog- 
raphy, Vol. III, p. 336. 

3 Transactions of the Fifteenth International Congress on Hygiene and Demog- 
raphy, Vol. III, p. 952. Cadbury, et al., Women’s Work and Wages, Chap. VIII. 
Breckenridge and Abbott, The Delinquent Child and the Home, p. 96. 

4 Breckenridge and Abbott, op. ci#., Chap. X. 


134 OUTLINES OF SOCIOLOGY 


Education of Women and the Size of the Family. — Several 
studies have been made which purport to prove that the edu- 
cation of women has had a very serious influence on the decrease 
of the birth rate among such women. It has been shown, 
however, that the real state of affairs is not that the natural 
fecundity of college women is less than that of women in the 
same social class who have not gone through college, but that 
fewer of the college women marry and so the average number 
of children for college women is unusually low. In fact, college 
women who marry seem to be as fecund as other women who 
have not had a college education.! 

When all these things are said, however, there yet remains 
the most important consideration of all. The causes of the 
declining birth rate in this country and throughout the western 
world are twofold. People limit the birth rate voluntarily 
either because they do not want children or because they think 
they cannot afford to have them. Those who do not want them 
are the women and men who have social ambitions and plenty 
of money. Children are an interference with the social or 
business plans of the man and with the desire for selfish enjoy- 
ment of the woman. Such people cannot well do the things 
which they are wont to do or wish to do and have children. On 
the other hand, the working woman feels that she cannot have 
both children and a job. The job is essential. Therefore 
children are denied. That same motive actuates families of 
the middle class. Because of the style of living to which both 
the husband and wife are accustomed they feel that a family 
cannot be undertaken until such time as the business or pro- 
fession has been established; therefore, the family is post- 
poned, with the result that they have few children or none at all. 

The Woman’s Movement and the Size of the Family. — 
The woman’s movement has had some effect probably in limit- 
ing the size of the family. Certain leaders have been loudly 
agitating for a limitation of the size of the family. Some have 
even gone so far as to urge that many women should not marry 
at all. Others have urged that a family should not have more 
than two children. Some of their arguments are due to a 
shrinking from the awful waste of life often involved in large 


1 Emerick, “College Women and Race Suicide,” Poiitical Science Quarterly, 
XXIV, pp. 269-283. 


ORGANIZATION AND LIFE OF THE FAMILY 135 


families both for mothers and children who do not live, others 
are due to a reaction against the physical suffering of mothers 
involved in bringing children into the world. Pain of child- 
birth was once taken as a matter of course. It was the lot of 
woman. The new freedom of women in its reaction has some- 
times gone to the point of saying that it is unfair that such an 
amount of suffering should be borne by one sex. This doctrine 
grows out of the doubts and questionings of the twentieth cen- 
tury. It has found an echo in the heart of many women. Why 
should they have children when so many more children will 
be born in any case by the lower classes? Her children are 
not needed to keep up the population of the world. Of course, 
it is hardly necessary to point out that such argument bears 
only on quantitative needs of the world with reference to popu- 
lation. It does not touch the question of quality. 

Physical Degeneracy and the Size of the Family. — Some 
students of the decline of the birth rate in American families 
have assumed that the reason for it is a supposed degeneracy 
or running out of the stock. It is argued by some that the 
preservation of the weaker individuals, both men and women, 
by reason of the measures taken by modern hygiene in lessening 
a selective death rate which would have weeded out many people 
with weak constitutions, has preserved a stock which naturally 
is relatively infertile. It leaves unanswered the fundamental 
question as to what causes this degeneracy, even if the theory 
were correct. No positive evidence, however, has been adduced 
to show that the race is degenerating except that there is a 
declining birth rate in native-born Americans. The chief 
evidence relied on by this theory is the analogy between our 
people and the ancient civilizations of Greece and Rome. A 
law of civilization and decay of people is assumed which offers 
the easy but useless explanation that civilizations have periods 
of youth, old age, and decline, just as individuals. The dif- 
ference is that in the case of the individual physiological causes 
can be invoked to explain the fact, while in the case of nations 
the causes are not only physiological, but social and therefore 
much more complex and difficult to bring under scientific 
control. The fact is certain enough that in certain states the 
native white stock has a birth rate that is insufficient to keep 
up the population. The causes, however, are probably such 


136 OUTLINES OF SOCIOLOGY 


economic and social causes as have been reviewed, rather than 
any inherent constitutional defects analogous to those which 
cause individual decline. 

Thus it becomes probable that the causes which have affected 
the family in the last century in the United States are largely 
social and economic in their nature. While physiological 
causes may have affected the birth rate to a certain extent, 
psychological causes and social considerations have played a 
much more important réle. So far as we have reviewed the 
evidence, the chief change in the family is in its decreasing size, 
not in any tendency to marry less or at a later age, except in 
particular classes. We shall now see that there is another 
change not yet touched upon which has come about in the 
family — the increasing instability of the family as registered 
in the increasing number of divorces. 

Social Status of the Family. — It is evident from the fore- 
going that the family represents the unit of social order. Within 
it people are trained for the larger social life. Not only are 
they schooled in the art of producing wealth and trained in the 
rights of property, but also in the duties and privileges of indi- 
viduals in association. Here they receive the elements of reli- 
gious training, for it is in the home that the beginnings of all 
forms of culture appear. Politically the family and the state 
are entirely separated so far as civil rights and duties are con- 
cerned, yet the home gives instruction in political life. It is 
here that questions of public policy are discussed and members 
of the family receive their early training in political opinion. 
There was a time in the history of social order when a man be- 
came a citizen through his family relationship. Indeed, this 
is true in some of the Oriental nations like China, where ancient 
institutions stand like granite. Yet notwithstanding all this 
the individual gradually has come to have more and more a 
direct personal relation to the state regardless of family ties 
or family direction. In the modern democratic society all 
family relationships have become subordinate to the state so 
far as civil government is concerned. 


ORGANIZATION AND LIFE OF THE FAMILY 137 


REFERENCES 


DEALEY, J.Q. The Family in its Sociological Aspects. 

FUSTEL DE COULANGES. The Ancient City, pp. 49-153. 

HEARN, W.E. The Aryan Household, pp. 1-111. : 
Howarp, Gro. E. The History of Matrimonial Institutions, pp. 3-223. 
Parsons, Extsre CLews. The Family. 

SMALL and VINCENT. An Introduction to the Study of Society, pp. 183-196. 
SPENCER, HERBERT. Principles of Sociology, Vol. I, pp. 667-712. 
WESTERMARCK, E. The History of Human Marriage. , 


QUESTIONS AND EXERCISES 


1. What is meant by the matriarchate? The patriarchate? Me- 
tronymy? Patronymy? 

2. Find the best chapter in the Bible describing a patronymic family. 

3. What is the distinction made between the uses of the word “form” in 
the terms ‘“‘forms of the family”’ and “forms of religion’’? 

4. What effects did the rise of ancestor worship have upon the strength 
of family life? 

5. Note the changes in the family which have followed changes in eco- 
nomic conditions. 

6. Show in what respects family life was changed when industry began 
to be carried on outside the home. 

7. What are the results on the social development of children of moving 
once a year? 

8. What bearing have the changes in the bases of the family life upon 
race suicide? 

g. Point out the social advantages of a declining birth rate. The draw- 
backs. 

10. If the birth rate is decreasing only in correspondence with the de- 
creasing death rate, what are the social consequences of the declining birth 
rate? 

11. What are the effects upon the family of vice and its physical conse- 
quences? 

12. Show what influence the employment of women in industry has upon 
the death rate of children. Suggest some measures that might alleviate 
these evil results without taking women out of industry. 

13. Show how higher education might have a restraining influence upon 
the birth rate. 

14. Analyze some small community which you know with reference to 


the size of family in different classes, and account for any differences you may 
find. 


CHAPTER VI 


DISORGANIZATION OF THE MODERN FAMILY 


Increase of Divorces. — The remarkable decrease in the size 
of the families in Western civilization is one of the two striking 
things about the modern family. The other, as we have in- 
dicated, is the great increase in the number of divorces during 
the last fifty years. Do these two features have anything in 
common? Is one cause and the other effect? Or are they 
both effects of a common cause? Do the facts indicate any 
absolute increase of unhappiness between husbands and wives, 
or do they merely testify that it has become easier for uncon- 
genial partners to separate? Such are some of the questions 
which arise on the contemplation of divorce statistics. 

Divorce figures do not show whether there is or is not more 
marital unhappiness now than in the days of our grandfathers ; 
but they do testify to our greater willingness to seek legal recog- 
nition of our infelicity. From 1870 to 1900 divorces per 100,000 
of population increased almost threefold in the United States. 
The number in 1880 represented an increase of 30.1 per cent 
over the number in 1870, in 1890 an increase of 25.5 per cent over 
that of 1880, in 1900 an increase of 20.7 per cent over that of 
1890. A refined divorce rate based upon the married popula- 
tion is even more significant. Thus the number of divorces 
granted per hundred thousand of married population grew as 
follows: 

1870 . ; : : : ; ay HOE 
1880 y f . ; : s Sats 
EGOS ys : ° . ° : ao 
TIOO a RY eT Oe. en a eras, 20 


Thus, in 1870, there were 14 divorces, in 1880 there were 
2 divorces, in 1890 there were 3, and in 1900 4 divorces for each 


1 Special Reports of the Census Office: Marriage and Divorce, 1867-1906, Wash- 
ington, 1909, Part I, p. 17. 


138 


DISORGANIZATION OF THE MODERN FAMILY 139 


1000 married.couples in the United States, or, in relation to 
married population, the divorce rate was 2% times as great in 
Ig00 as in 1870. More divorces were granted to the husband 
(34.2 per cent) from 1867 to 1886 than from 1887 to 1906 (33.4 
per cent). More divorces (46.9 per cent) were granted to 
the husband in the South Atlantic group of states than any 
other group. The geographical divisions granting the smallest 
proportions of divorces to the husbands were the North Central 
with only 28.3 per cent, and the Western with but 27.7 per cent 
of the total number of divorces. It is probable that this dif- 
ference between the North and the West, on the one hand, and 
the South on the other, is due to the greater freedom and eco- 
nomic independence enjoyed by women in the former groups. 
The women of the South probably are not so accustomed to 
the idea of earning their own living. It has been shown that 
divorced women more largely than any other class of women 
studied by the Census officials are following a gainful occupa- 
tion. Divorces granted to husbands, therefore, are relatively 
less numerous in the industrial North and West than in the 
agricultural South. The increasing economic independence 
of women probably throws light also upon the slightly growing 
tendency of women to seek divorce as revealed in the divorces 
granted to husbands and wives respectively in the two periods 
1867-1886 and 1887-1906.! 

Distribution of Divorces. — (1) Number of Years Married. — 
The divorce rate seems to reach its maximum about the fifth 
year of married life. At the end of that year more than one 
half of the separations have taken place. This would seem to 
indicate that the perilous period in the history of a family is 
in the first few years of wedlock. That is but natural. If the 
adjustment of relations cannot be made within that time, separa- 
tion and divorce registers the fact. Yet, 3.1 per cent of the 
total number divorced from 1887 to 1906 had lived together 
25 years or more. 

(2) Families with and without Children. — Divorces are much 
more common between couples without children than between 
those with two or three children. This may or may not indi- 
cate that there is more unhappiness in the childless home than 
in the home with children. It does indicate that people with 

1 Marriage and Divorce, Bulletin No. 96, Twelfth Census, 1908, pp. 12, 13. 


I40 OUTLINES OF SOCIOLOGY 


children are less willing to permit the home to be broken up. 
Moreover, one of the very strong ties between husband and wife 
is lacking when there are no children. Selfishness thrives in 
the childless home. There are no helpless ones appealing con- 
stantly to the best in their parents — weakness appealing to 
strength, childhood to maturity, helplessness to ability, — 
teaching their parents to deal with each other in love and 
gentleness.! 

(3) Differences in Occupations. — The Census Report shows that 
there is a great difference as to the frequency of divorce among 
those in different occupations. The following table gives the 
facts: 


MARRIED MALES HAVING 
THE OccUPATION DESIG- 
NATED: CENSUS OF 1900 


HUSBANDS DIVORCED (1887-1906) FOR WHOM OCCUPATION 
WAS REPORTED 


Agricultural pursuits By cp hoa as SUED ss, Na boar RA 39.4% 
Professional service . . Balan ep Ea 3.9 
Domestic and personal service . . . 24.0 13.0 
Trade and transportation. . . 19.5 18.2 
Manufacturing and mechanical pursuits 22.7 25.6 


Certain occupations show an exceedingly high divorce rate. 
Thus, in 1900, divorced actors, professional showmen, etc., 
numbered one sixth of the total number in such occupations 
married. Commercial travelers show a ratio of one divorced 
man to every nine commercial travelers married during the 
twenty years 1887-1906. Musicians, physicians, bartenders, 
and telephone and telegraph operators show almost as high 
a proportion — one to about every 24 married. For farmers 
the ratio was 1 to 92 —a ratio much below the average.” 

Some writers have held that the cities have a greater divorce 
rate than the country. Dr. Lichtenberger has thrown doubt 
upon the credibility of that generalization. He has shown that 

1Jn torr in Great Britain 36 per cent of the couples divorced were childless. — 
Hazell’s Annual, 1914, p. 438. 

2 Marriage and Divorce; Bulletin, No. 96 of the Twelfth Census of the United 
States, 1908, pp. 10-27. 

3 Special Reports of the Census Office: Marriage and Divorce, 1867-1906, Wash- 


ington, 1909, Part I, pp. 18, 19. Ellwood, Sociology and Modern Social Problems, 
Revised and Enlarged Edition, 1913, p. 142. 


DISORGANIZATION OF THE MODERN FAMILY I4I 


there are many cities which have rates lower than the country 
districts.! Professor Ellwood has suggested that where this 
is the case it is due to the presence of large numbers of Catholics 
and foreigners.2, One would expect that the conditions of city 
life would affect the family stability unfavorably. The city 
is characterized by those nervous, dynamic conditions which 
have such an unsettling effect upon our institutions. This 
expectation is borne out by a comparison of the rates of counties 
containing cities with those of the state as a whole and also 
with those of counties having only small cities and rural coun- 
ties. 

(4) Difference in Divorce Rate between the Sexes. —'Two thirds 
of all the divorces in the United States are granted to the wife. 
This may mean that the men are more liable to give occasion 
for divorce than women. As we shall see, the chief cause 
alleged by the men who apply for divorce is adultery of the 
wife. 

(5) Divorce in the United States compared with Other Couniries. — 
The divorce rate is much higher in the United States than in 


NUMBER OF DIVORCES PER 100,000 OF POPULATION 


10 20 30 40 60 60 70 


UNITED STATES 
SWITZERLAND 
FRANCE 
DENMARK 
GERMANY 
SERVIA 

NEW ZEALAND 
BELGIUM 
BULGARIA 
HUNGARY 
AUSTRALIA 
NETHERLANDS 
SWEDEN 
NORWAY 
SCOTLAND 
ENGLAND AND WALES 
AUSTRIA 
IRELAND 





any other country in the world except Japan. Switzerland’s, 
which is the highest rate in Europe, compared with that of the 
United States is as 3 to 7.4. While, however, the rates of other 
countries are much lower than that of the United States they 
show a like tendency to increase. 


1 Divorce, A Study in Social Causation, New York, 1900, pp. 81, 82. 

2 Ellwood, Sociology and Modern Social Problems, Revised Edition, 1913, p. 142. 

3 Special Reports of the Census Office: Marriage and Divorce, 1867-1906, Wash- 
ington, 1909, Part I, p. 18. 

4 Tbid., p. 20. 


142 OUTLINES OF SOCIOLOGY 


(6) Geographic Distribution of Divorces in the United States. — 
Certain sections of our country had a higher divorce rate than 
others. Thus, in 1906 the Western Division of states had a 
rate of more than four times that of the North Atlantic Division 
(168 to 41), and almost four times that of the South Atlantic 
(168 to 43). The North Central States had a rate two and 
two-thirds that of the North Atlantic (108 to 41), and the South 
Central two and three fourths that of the South Atlantic (118 
to 43). In general it may be said that the rate increases as 





WZ4 100 «10300 


S 





madly bee vie 
AVERAGE ANNUAL NUMBER OF DIVORCES PER 100,000 MARRIED 
POPULATION, FOR STATES AND TERRITORIES: 1900. 


one goes westward. Perhaps it will be more significant if one 
observes that it increases as one goes from the sections of country 
settled by foreigners, many of whom are Catholics, to those 
sections in which one will find the characteristic American ele- 
ments of the population, people who have become thoroughly 
Americanized, if they are not of the old American stock. This 
will be more graphic in a map of the United States so printed 
as to show the differences and similarities in divorce rates in 
the various states in 1900.1 

Great changes have come about in the distribution of divorces 
among the several states as shown by the following maps indi- 


1 Special Reports of the Census Office: Marriage and Divorce, 1867-1906, Wash- 
ington, 1909, Part I, p. 16. . 


DISORGANIZATION OF THE MODERN FAMILY 


143 






{J UNCER =. 
UZ, 258 = 10 80 
Sotetetetet 18 


Kx] 60 *. 





Ges} 
Sas 
WA - 


AVERAGE ANNUAL NUMBER OF DIVORCES PER 100,000 POPULATION, 
FOR STATES AND TERRITORIES: 1870 AND 1880, 


144 OUTLINES OF SOCIOLOGY 







(] vnoer 
V7, 26 


ESS so 75 
CJA 7% + 100 tj 
| —— 4 









a 


cy 76 7 a 





ano Gwin 





AVERAGE ANNUAL NUMBER OF DIVORCES PER 100,000 POPULATION, 
FOR STATES AND TERRITORIES: 1890 AND 1900. 


DISORGANIZATION OF THE MODERN FAMILY T45 


cating the distribution in 1870, 1880, and 1890. These maps 
should be compared with the ones above. It is apparent that 
in 1900 there were but three sections with a number of divorces 
below 75 per 100,000 population. One of these is of the 
Atlantic seaboard states with the exception of New England 
and Florida. Another is composed of the two states Wisconsin 
and Minnesota, and the third is the territory (then) of New 
Mexico. Moreover, by these maps the increase of divorce in 
this country is strikingly shown.1 

The Probability of Divorce.— The statistical probability 
of divorce has been investigated by the Census Bureau and 
some tentative figures were presented which, while not compa- 
rable in their reliability with the tables of expectancy of human 
life prepared by life insurance companies, are yet suggestive. 
The Census experts conclude that it is quite probable that the 
true rate of expectancy is about one in every twelve, and some 
think even as high as one in ten. The probabilities are that the 
divorce rate reveals less than the true state of marital infelicity. 
Almost 94 per cent of all the divorces granted from 1887 to 
1906 were on grounds of five principal causes, adultery, cruelty, 
desertion, drunkenness, and neglect to provide. When these 
can be proved in so large a percentage of the causes in which 
divorce is granted, it is probable that there are many more 
cases in which these or other causes operated but which had 
not come to action for divorce or were not capable of proof.? 

Grounds of Divorce. — While the causes alleged in the peti- 
tions for divorce are not always the real ones, they throw some 
light nevertheless on the subject. Thus, the legal ground most 
frequently alleged was desertion, being the ground stated in 
38.9 per cent of all the divorces granted from 1887 to 1906. 
It was alleged in the case of almost half of the divorces granted 
to men (49.4 per cent) and just about one third of those granted 
to women (33.6 per cent). Of the divorces granted to husbands 
28.7 per cent were on grounds of adultery of the wife and 10.5 
per cent for cruelty by the wife. Of those granted to wives 
27.5 per cent were for cruelty by the husband, and only to per 
cent for adultery by the husband —an almost exact reversal 


1Special Reports of the Census Office: Marriage and Divorce, 1867-1906, 
Washington, 1909, Part I, p. 17. 
2Jbid,, pp. 22, 23. 
L 


146 OUTLINES OF SOCIOLOGY 


of relative proportions of these two grounds. Drunkenness 
as the sole ground was alleged in only 5.3 per cent of the cases 
granted to the wife and in but 1.1 per cent of those granted to 
the husband. It was the indirect cause in 13.8 per cent of the 
cases; in 4.7 per cent of the divorces granted to husbands and 
in 18.3 per cent of those granted to wives it was alleged as a 
contributory cause. Moreover, it was present as a contributory 
cause in 32.4 per cent of the cases in which the wife was granted 
a divorce on grounds of cruelty, and over one fifth of the cases 
(21.2 per cent) of those granted on grounds of neglect to provide. 

One point in this enumeration of causes needs a word. It 
would appear from the statements made above that adultery 
was a more common ground in divorces granted to men than 
to women. Of the divorces granted on this ground alone 59.1 
per cent of the offenses were committed by the wife and 40.9 
per cent by the husband. The probability is, however, that 
the women are no more guilty in this matter than the men, but 
that evidence is more easily secured against women guilty of 
this offense than against men, the double standard of morality 
making the offense in the man more easily overlooked than in 
the woman, and the woman finding other grounds easier to 
prove. 

It is also worthy of remark that adultery as a ground of 
divorce has been steadily decreasing since 1867 — a statistical fact 
regarding this moral delinquency which runs counter to popular 
belief. Thus the percentage of divorces granted for fe cause 
has fallen as follows: 


1867-1871 WW Nia hg Aes Ah NED Lyte eerie OG 
1872-1876 LON el Uikete Peay ice UL oe ee eC JOR, 
1877-1881 as Sagat et Gace ek a ee Weta Paw eo re hun tee eed CZ, 
1882-1886 of) yy Tar hele Wate NG Oia eile ey Saban et Jr hud 
1887-1891 sb ycolt eS diel ant adeae | tea mand 17.0 Yo 
1892-18096 SDAP CARATS EB Fi 0S ap A ei A 
1897-1901 s:), gts he tGiath ae RRC? Lee Pummes Cannot | We MUTE’ cy, 
1902-1906 ei) Ri eee MI RRS cet Lee Ee ESE 3 Oy 


Cruelty as a cause, on the other hand, has nearly doubled from 
1867 to 1906. Neglect to provide has risen during the same 
period from 1.7 per cent of the total causes to 3.8 per cent. 


1Special Reports of the Census Office: Marriage and Divorce, 1887-1906, 
Washington, 1909, Part I, p. 26. 


DISORGANIZATION OF THE MODERN FAMILY 147 


Whether there is an actual decrease in marital infidelity or 
whether adultery as a ground of divorce appears less frequently, 
because other causes are now grounds for divorce and therefore 
adultery need not be alleged, is a question concerning which no 
categorical answer can now be given. 

Causes of the Growth of Divorce. — These causes just dis- 
cussed are legal grounds. They do not always indicate the 
real causes of divorce. Down beneath these lie those intangible 
but none the less real and influential psychological and social 
causes which bring forth this harvest of legally acknowledged 
broken vows. Many of the same influences which we reviewed 
in seeking to understand the decrease in the size of the family 
must be invoked in order to explain the phenomena of divorce. 
Possessing greater economic opportunities than the women of 
former generations, modern women refuse to be bound for the 
sake of livelihood by ties which have come to be galling. 

(1) Economic Causes explain Divorce in Part. — Poverty with 
its grinding toil and its strained relations between provider and 
housekeeper must be considered. On the other hand, there is 
wealth with its false demands for means to allay the ennui of 
an existence sated with the enjoyments of life. Moreover, while 
the marriage for money is perhaps less common than in some 
civilizations, there are of course marriages still to be found in 
which the monetary consideration is the real basis of the family. 
Sometimes such a consideration remains the basis and consti- 
tutes the chief reason for its continuance. Let, however, that 
consideration wane in its importance by reason of the loss of 
money, or from a growing appreciation of the falsity of such a 
bond for such intimate relations, and the breaking of the bond is 
quite certain to occur. 

(2) Changes in the Social Position of Women. — Vastly more 
important are the changes which have come over the social 
status of woman in the last fifty years. With her change in 
economic independence, she can now free herself from bonds 
which once had to be endured in order that she might escape 
starvation. Once the power of tradition which visited with 
social ostracism the woman who revolted from a life made 
hard by a mate who was in no sense a companion held her bound 
and prevented the legal breaking of a bond which no longer was 
backed by love. Mohammedan countries and the countries of 


148 OUTLINES OF SOCIOLOGY 


Europe in which divorce is seldom permitted furnish plenty of 
evidence that there are other ways than divorce by which a 
woman may get rid of an undesirable husbandt Where the 
spirit of the woman was not of that desperate character, she 
suffered and lived a loveless life, a slave to a being she could not 
respect or love. Tradition has not yet been broken entirely. 
Many a woman still suffers and endures for the sake of the 
opinion of her relatives and friends or because of the attitude of 
her church towards divorce, or for the sake of her children. 
With woman’s industrial enfranchisement, however, a great 
impetus has been given to divorce. With the breaking down of 
social tradition condemning divorce it will naturally grow in 
the absence of a better method of contracting marriages. With 
the increasing education of woman she is thinking upon the 
question of her relations to men. When she began to think, 
tradition’s power began to break. 

(3) Mental Emancipation of Women.— Out of an appeal 
to her reason has grown the emancipation of woman. The 
awakening rationality of the sex began to doubt the old sanctions. 
The doubts have raised questions which many women are not 
prepared to settle practically. One result, however, of this spirit 
of the age is woman’s attempt to gain the ballot in England and 
America. A much more important effect, however, is woman’s 
lessened respect for the traditional sanctions of an indissoluble 
marriage bond and hence an increase in divorce.2 Woman’s 
growing conviction that something is wrong with her lot in some 
cases was brought to expression by the movement for her emanci- 
pation. Political enfranchisement was the least of the burden 
she felt. She felt much more keenly her domestic bonds and 
therefore she desired the more intensely her emancipation from 
ties which she felt to be hateful. 

Like all reformers, doubtless the advocates of woman’s freedom 
have gone too far. To make their case perhaps the leaders have 
overstated her distress. Doubtless the agitation has stirred some 
excitable women to exaggerate their unhappiness. Reiterated 
declarations concerning women’s “slavery” have without 


1Lombroso, Causes and Remedies of Crime, English Translation, 1912, pp. 184, 
18s. 

2 For an interesting discussion of the feminist movement in Germany, see Ellis, 
The Task of Social Hygiene, pp. 87-112. 


DISORGANIZATION OF THE MODERN FAMILY I49 


question worked as a suggestion to some who otherwise would 
never have thought of revolt against their position. Perhaps, 
therefore, we may reasonably anticipate after the agitation has 
quieted down a decline in divorce. 

(4) Irrational Methods of choosing Mates. — When one con- 
templates the irrational way in which matches are made one 
wonders, not that one marriage out of every twelve ends in the 
divorce court, but that so few come to that conclusion. Two 
theories dominate in present-day thought as reflected in our 
modern novels centering about the tender passion. Either 
“‘marriages are made in heaven,” or, according to the new 
theological version of that theory, people are intended for 
each other by that paganized, but none the less personal, 
something called Nature. The one is as metaphysical and as 
unscientific as the other. Both are prescientific statements of 
an actual situation less definitely determined, however, than 
the theories would make us believe. The elements of attraction 
between well-mated personalities have never been scientifically 
established. Sexual attraction rests partly on a physical basis. 
The popular belief is that people with unlike or complementary 
physical qualities attract each other, very much as the positive 
and negative poles of a magnet. Thus, light and dark, the slim 
and the stout, attract each other. Some sociologists think that 
the novel in one’s experience attracts. Others think that each 
group of people forms an ideal of personal beauty corresponding 
to its degree of mental development and of civilization. Un- 
questionably this ideal, to a considerable extent, grows out of 
imitation of superiors in social status. However, the subject 
waits for more careful scientific study. 

Moreover, certain mental and social qualities unquestionably 
affect the choice. Here, again, the principle of the attraction of 
the unlike has been invoked. Complementary temperaments 
attract each other, say the advocates of this theory. A prtort 
such a thing is conceivable. Psychologically it is possible that 
the slightly novel mental characteristic might attract the atten- 
tion and stir the interest of another, and lead to the development 
of love. A standard of mental qualities each of us possesses per- 
haps. What are its constituent elements and how these elements 
are selected and organized into an ideal has never been investi- 
gated. 


150 OUTLINES OF SOCIOLOGY 


The important point in this connection, however, is that 
choice of a mate is made ordinarily on an instinctive, or at least 
an irrational, basis. People choose marriage partners because 
they like them. Certain physical and mental qualities enter 
into the ideal of the loved one, without a doubt, but how often 
are those qualities clearly analyzed and considered in all their 
bearings upon the future of the home and family which may 
be established by the two who are sexually attracted? How 
seldom is as much attention given by the parties to even the 
physical characteristics of each other as is given by stock- 
breeders to the physical qualities of the dams and sires of their 
herd! Such questions are seldom considered even by the 
envious critics of the couple, not to mention the couple them- 
selves. All too frequently these two persons most interested in 
the matter do not ask themselves the question as to whether 
the other party to the contemplated contract is fitted to be the 
father or mother of their children. The attachment is formed on 
a romantic basis. The all-important question is, Do they love 
each other? not, Have they the qualities, physical and mental, 
which make them suited to each other and so make possible the 
continuance of romantic love? Romantic love’s young dream 
will fade. Is the basis there for love between the mature man 
and woman after the romance has vanished? In too many cases 
those questions are not considered ; hence divorce. 

Proposed Remedies. — (1) Are Uniform Divorce Laws a 
Remedy? — Uniform divorce laws have been suggested as a partial 
remedy for the present evils. It is often said that divorce is 
made easy for all by the fact that one state has laws providing 
for easy divorce, although others may have stringent laws. 
Those who do not find it possible to obtain a divorce in one state 
go therefore into the state where divorce can be easily obtained. 
If, on the other hand, these people argue, all the states had uni- 
form laws modeled on a strict basis, it would be impossible for 
those who desire an easy divorce to obtain it. The inference is 
that if divorce were impossible or difficult, then the evil would 
cease. Is that inference justified? 

No one doubts that in certain cases the law may be a stimulus 
to morals. There are other cases, however, in which the law is a 
challenge to immorality. The question as to just how far a law 
may go and yet be a brace to the moral sense of the com- 


DISORGANIZATION OF THE MODERN FAMILY I51r 


munity rather than a red rag flaunted in the face of a bull has 
not been very carefully determined. It is probable that strict 
divorce laws would prevent some divorces, — those which now 
result from mere childish caprice or ephemeral discord. Would 
strict laws, however, prevent the separation of those parties 
who have discovered between them an incompatibility which 
time could not overcome? Would it prevent the joyless life, 
and the frequent intrigues and faithlessness which history has 
shown can go on in despite of marriage bonds? Would it pre- 
vent the clandestine alliances and even poilsonings, resort to 
which has been had in those countries and times in which divorce 
has been forbidden? If a mismating has occurred, such a pro- 
posal would not cure it, — in fact, it might even accentuate the 
differences. When two people are united in the bonds of mar- 
riage and cannot live together without the deepest unhappiness, 
is it not the best thing for them and for any children they may 
have to separate? 

(2) Stricter Regulation of Marriage. — The much more im- 
portant remedy for the divorce evil is a closer regulation of 
marriage. There are many good points to the banns. They are 
at least a recognition of the social character of marriage. They 
give opportunity for social regulation of a sort. If there is any 
real objection to the contemplated marriage, the banns give the 
opportunity to have such objections offered. Moreover, they 
put a check upon undue haste and give time for somewhat careful 
deliberation. On the other hand, the banns are not scientific 
in their nature. They do not put any emphasis upon such con- 
siderations as those suggested above. Based primarily upon 
religious conditions, they do not cover fundamental biological 
and mental and the wider social considerations. The religious 
banns are important for those in religious communions. It is of 
importance whether the people married are of the same religious 
persuasion, especially those of a zealous nature. The chief de- 
fects are that the banns are limited to religious people, they are 
based upon religious rather than social considerations, and 
the tests appealed to are not biological, mental, or sociological. 
In the absence of a more scientific method the banns of the 
church serve a splendid purpose for a limited part of the popula- 
tion who wish to get married. 

(3) Eugenic Marriage Laws, as they are called, have been 


152 OUTLINES OF SOCIOLOGY 


passed by several states. In general they require a certificate 
of sound health and freedom from disease, especially from 
venereal disease. Before them there were laws forbidding mar- 
riage between certain mental defectives, such as idiots or im- 
beciles, insane, and those otherwise mentally diseased. The 
idea at the basis of these laws is most commendable. The 
practical difficulty with all measures so far proposed is in the 
lack of scientific methods of determining whether a person is unfit 
for marriage. As yet, in most states, unless the person is a 
manifest mental incompetent, he can get a license to wed. In 
some cases people who have been in insane asylums or other in- 
stitutions for the mentally diseased or defective have had no 
trouble in securing the license. Until such time as public senti- 
ment shall approve the introduction of careful examinations 
into both the physical and mental defect of people who intend to 
marry we shall have to be content to let the stream of human life 
be poisoned at its source, or have it controlled only by the 
rough methods which have been built out of a prescientific 
experience. In several states of the United States the law re- 
quires every person who applies for a license to marry to present 
a certificate from some reputable physician declaring that he 
has made a careful examination of the party named in the cer- 
tificate and that such person is free from all venereal diseases. 
Great difficulty has been experienced in getting physicians 
who were willing to make such a declaration, especially in view of 
the fact that the law usually has set the price which should be 
charged by the physician for this examination, —a price for 
which the physician could not afford to make the most thorough 
examination known to medical science, the Wasserman test. 
Many physicians assert that even with the Wasserman test it 
cannot be known certainly that there is no disease of the kind 
intended to be discovered by the examination. The chief diffi- 
culty with this law is that the law requires an examination which 
for the common man is prohibitive in price if the regular price is 
charged, and which the conscientious physician cannot afford to 
make at the low price set in the law. Asa result of these difficul- 
ties the attorney-general of Wisconsin has declared that the 
Wasserman test need not be applied, but that the physician may 
write the certificate after such examination as he can make for 
$3.00 — the price the law allows him to charge. That interpre- 


DISORGANIZATION OF THE MODERN FAMILY 153 


tation, of course, destroys much of the value of the law and opens 
the way for charlatans to make a business of granting certificates 
on easy terms. A simple change making it possible for physi- 
cians to have the test made at the State Hygienic Laboratory, 
or at the State Psychiatric Institute, and providing the in- 
stitution designated by law with the men and equipment neces- 
sary would be one method by which the present difficulties could 
be obviated. Still another method which might be adopted 
would be a requirement that the Wasserman test be made but 
the cost of it paid for by the county and the applicant jointly. 
Against this policy, however, is the objection that there would 
not be the certainty that the test would be properly made, while 
uniformity of test and thoroughness would be insured in either 
of the state institutions just named. This test for physical 
disease should be supplemented, however, by requirements that 
not only venereal diseases, but certain others, like tuberculosis, 
should be sought for, and that tests of mentality should also be 
given so that those who are slightly feeble-minded should not 
be allowed to marry. 

(4) The Court of Domestic Relations. —In a number of cities 
in the United States this novel and interesting kind of court has 
been established in the hope that thereby divorce may be 
diminished. It is based partly on the theory that many divorces 
are due to the fact that there is no disinterested party which 
has authority to review those differences which are not funda- 
mental in a family where discord has risen and act as mediator 
between the two parties. The experience of this court has shown 
that many families on the verge of disruption can be saved by 
the exercise of wise counsel and kindly help.! 

(5) Raising the Social Ideals of Marriage is Necessary. — The 
measures just noticed, excellent as they are, merely touch the 
problem of divorce. They will make entrance into matrimony 
more deliberate, and by calling attention to some features 
which should be considered in selecting a mate will cause more 
careful thought on the whole question of fitness for such high re- 
sponsibility. Vastly more important, however, are measures 
looking to the dissemination of information concerning the social 
responsibilities involved in the marriage relation and in the 


1 Report of National Conference of Charities and Correction, 1911, pp. 408, 409. 
Ibid., 1912, pp. 5, 459-462. Ibid., p. 31. 


154 OUTLINES OF SOCIOLOGY 


creation of a sentiment in favor of careful consideration of the 
physical and mental fitness of people for the high task of 
being the progenitors of the next generation. Let the taboo be 
lifted from this subject. People should consider these matters 
in the light of modern knowledge. At least, let it come to be 
the custom of men and women to ask themselves seriously 
whether they are mentally and physically fitted to be happy 
with the prospective partner and whether they are prepared to 
make the sacrifices involved in living intimately with another 
person for life so as to make that partnership endurable if not 
happy. 

The state’s chief concern with marriage is the question of the 
children. Where no children have been born to married persons, 
there is some doubt as to whether the state has a right to meddle 
with such intimate concerns as the family. Growing originally 
out of the state’s concern for children as food for bullets or slaves 
for forced labor, the state has always exercised some care over 
the family by reason of its concern for the children. Now, with 
higher motives prompting the attitude, such as concern for 
men and women who shall be efficient citizens, strong in body 
and mind, adapted to the changing industrial and social condi- 
tions of our society, the state is interfering with the schooling 
and the working of the child. In the minds of many statesmen 
and social students the question is rising as to why the state 
should not go back one step farther and concern itself actively 
with the heredity of that child. Before such a program can be 
effective, however, the people must be educated up to the 
necessity of founding a family on the right biological basis. 
No less important is it that each individual be brought to an 
appreciation of the importance of considering psychological and 
social factors also in the choice of amate. By the psychological 
factors I mean such things as the question of temperaments 
suitable to each other. Science will have to come to the aid of 
emotion in the selection of a temperamental mate. By the social 
considerations I mean such questions as social ideals, tastes, 
attitudes, and traditions. Unequal standards of living, 
or different ideals as to methods of bringing up children, are 
sometimes the entering wedges of divisive strife. Incompatible 
attitudes towards such things as amusements, drinking customs, 
personal habits, and family customs sometimes mar the peace of 


DISORGANIZATION OF THE MODERN FAMILY 155 


the family. Above all these in importance are the ideals of 
what a family should be and what it is for. Ideals are products 
of social endeavor or of social neglect. If the ideals of the family 
relationship are wrong, they can be corrected by social action. 
Education, social ostracism, social emulation, can all be used to 
furnish ideals of family life. The press and the pulpit, the clubs 
and societies which address themselves to questions of public 
welfare, the schools and the family itself, are all instruments of 
the formation of family ideals. The schools to-day, so far as 
they touch the problem of the family, are concerned largely 
with the problem of food and clothing. Where is there one 
which deals with the much larger problem of social adjustments 
in the home? We teach our girls how to cook for a man and 
children, and how to manage a household. Why do we not teach 
them how to manage a home so as to secure peace and happiness, 
to make it an instrument of social betterment? The boys we 
do not teach even that much about homemaking. We have 
only begun to dabble at teaching the boy how to make a living. 
We have not even thought about teaching him how to make a 
life for himself and the woman he takes as his wife, and with whom 
he makes the most solemn covenant to ‘‘love, honor, and protect 
her, to cherish her in joy and sorrow, in health and sickness, in 
prosperity and adversity, to be faithful to her, and never to 
forsake her,’’ — a task large enough in all conscience to warrant 
an intelligent, instructed assent, and one which is made only 
to be broken in spirit probably in more than one case out of ten. 
When one views all the factors carefully, it ceases to excite sur- 
prise that so many marriages find their way to the divorce court. 


REFERENCES 


Same as cited in previous chapter, and 
ADLER, FEL1x. Marriage and Divorce, Chap. II. 
CooLrey, CHARLES H. Social Organization, Chap. XXXI. 
E.uts, HAvELocK. The Task of Social Hygiene, Chaps. II-VI. 
LICHTENBERGER, J. P. Divorce: A Study in Social Causation. 
Special Reports of the Census Office: Marriage and Divorce, 1867-1906, 2 vols. 
1909. Marriage and Divorce, Census Bulletin No. 96, 1908. 
Witcox, WALTER F. The Divorce Problem: A Study in Statistics. 


156 OUTLINES OF SOCIOLOGY 


QUESTIONS AND EXERCISES 


1. What in your judgment has been the influence upon the divorce rate 
in America of the modern legal facilitations for divorce ? 

2. Do you think that stricter divorce laws would solve the problem pre- 
sented by divorce? Why? 

3. Give your explanation of the fact that so large a proportion of the 
divorces occur in the first five years of married life. What bearing does this 
fact have upon the contention that stricter divorce laws will solve the prob- 
lem? 

4. State the psychology of the fact that children in the home prevents 
divorce. 

5. Explain the differences in the divorce rate in different occupations. 

6. Show that the differing geographic or physical conditions of various 
parts of the United States do not account for the differences in the divorce 
rates of these parts of the country. 

7. Work out the statistics of divorce for your own state and account for 
the variations from the figures for the whole country. (Special Reports of 
the Census Office: Marriage and Divorce, 1867-1906, Washington, 1909.) 

8. Explain the changes which have come over many of the states of the 
Union in their divorce rates during the past forty years. 

g. Suggest ways in which the mathematical probability of divorce can 
be modified by social measures. 

10. Show that the legal grounds of divorce may not be the real causes. 

II. State the main features of a eugenic marriage law. 

12. What do you think of the French plan which requires the consent 
of the parents to a marriage until a certain age has been reached? Does 
this unduly emphasize the interest of the family and the social idea? 
Should fathers and mothers have any control? Should they be notified 
and should it be required that, say, six months elapse after their protest 
before a marriage may take place? 

13. Suggest a constructive program for marriage which would lessen the 
number of divorces. 


CHAPTER VII 
ORIGIN AND DEVELOPMENT OF THE STATE 


Nature of the State—— The state is the political organization 
of the individuals of a community for the common good. It is 
the expression of political life. Its purpose is the protection and 
preservation of the group, and, incidentally, of the individual. 
Primarily, the state represents a group of individuals, each having 
an organic relation to the whole, and the whole group to other 
groups and individuals, and having for its purpose the regulation 
of relationships affecting vitally the welfare of the group. Con- 
cern for the preservation of the group is the most general motive 
inspiring that regulation of individual and group life which 
is the beginning of government. That characteristic explains 
why both in primitive and in developed societies the group’s 
regulations are limited to those designed to promote this aim. 
These regulations differ both as to stringency and as to scope in 
societies at different stages of development. Sometimes it may 
seem best to the governing authorities to exercise closer regula- 
tion of individual and group action than at others, for example, 
in times of war, or of such a crisis as famine or plague. In cer- 
tain stages of social evolution regulation by the governing 
authorities will extend to affairs which at other times are left to 
the regulation of the mores or to the individual interest. 

Writers differ as to the essential characteristics of the state. 
Thus, Bluntschli names seven characteristics: (1) A number of 
men; (2) a fixed territory; (3) unity; (4) distinction between 
rulers and subjects; (5) an organic nature; (6) the state is a 
moral and spiritual organism, it is a personality; (7) the state 
is masculine as contrasted with the church, which is feminine.! 

Willoughby, on the other hand, says that the essential elements 
of astate are: (1) a community of people socially united; (2) a 
political machinery, termed a government, and administered 


1 Bluntschli, Theory of the State, 1901, pp. 15-23. 
157 


158 OUTLINES OF SOCIOLOGY 


by a corps of officials termed a magistracy; and (3) a body of 
rules or maxims, written or unwritten, determining the scope 
of this public authority, and the manner of its exercise.! 

The state must be separated in mind from government, which 
is the organ through which the state expresses itself, the instru- 
ment by means of which the public will or judgment is executed. 
Whether the government is communistic, patriarchal, monarchi- 
cal, or democratic, it is always a mere form of demonstrating 
the power of the state. As Giddings, following Burgess, has 
pointed out, there is a state behind the constitution and a state 
revealed in the constitution. The two are quite distinct. The 
former is composed of the people in a given geographic area 
speaking a common language and having common ideas as to 
the fundamental principles of rights and wrongs. The latter 
is the people expressing themselves in certain ways and defining 
and delegating certain powers which they wish to have exercised. 
The latter may be called the government. It is the subject of 
political science. The former is society in the general sense and 
is the subject-matter of sociology.?, On the other hand, it is 
necessary to distinguish the state from any mere social aggrega- 
tion whether it be called people, tribe, or nation. 

Doubtlessly for the origin of the state behind the constitution 
we must go back to primitive social institutions. This state 
organizing itself for the purposes of social control in order to 
secure benefits which could not be obtained by individuals alone 
finds its basis in primitive man’s consciousness of group needs 
and in his appreciation of the necessity of limiting individual 
desires for the sake of the group. Its development cannot 
always be traced to a definite succession of forms, but it is rather 
a psychological tendency working through all forms. This 
expression of group coéperation and control began with the 
primitive family, then when families came together in hordes 
relations became more complex both within and between families. 
For wherever there is concerted action for the common good, 
however faint, there are the beginnings of that condition of 
the social mind which is one of the conditions for the develop- 


1 Willoughby, The Nature of the State, p. 4. 

2 Giddings, Principles of Sociology, New York, 1901, p. 35. Cf. Burgess, “The 
American Commonwealth,” Political Science Quarterly, Vol. I, No. 1, March, 1886, 
p. 13. 


ORIGIN AND DEVELOPMENT OF THE STATE 159 


ment of this form of the state. As will be explained later, the 
state in the sense of that term which involves sovereignty did 
not develop as a matter of history until war, migration, and con- 
quest had given a conqueror the right to impose his will upon 
the people of a certain geographical area.1 

The Origin of the State. — When men discuss the origin of 
the state, some mean the psychological motives which gave 
birth to the state, while others refer to the institutions out of 
which the state developed. Representative of the first class is 
Morley, when he says that society, by which he must be under- 
stood to mean the state, is grounded in “ the acceptance of con- 
ditions which came into existence by the sociability inherent in 
man, and were developed by man’s spontaneous search after 
convenience.”’” 

Not ignoring the motives which gave rise to the state, but con- 
necting those motives with the institutions in which they found 
their expression, are other writers, from among whom two rep- 
resentatives may be named. Wilson says, “‘ Government must 
have had substantially the same early history among all pro- 
gressive races. It must have begun in clearly defined family 
discipline.” And ‘‘ What is known of the central nations of his- 
tory reveals clearly the fact that social organization and, con- 
sequently, government (whichis the visible form of social organi- 
zation), originated in kinship. The original bond of union and 
the original sanction for magisterial authority were one and 
the same thing, namely, real or feigned blood-relationship.” * 
Professor Commons looks to a different series of motives to 
explain the origin of the state. He says, “‘ The state is the coer- 
cive institution of society. It is not an ideal entity, superim- 
posed upon society, but is an accumulated series of compromises 
between social classes, each seeking to secure for themselves 
control over the institution of private property.” “ The state 
is rather the creature and offspring of private property.” 4 
Yet the patriarchal family is one of the institutions in which sover- 
eignty and so the state originated, because in that family only do 


1 Ward, “Sociology and the State,” American Journal of Sociology, Vol. XV, 
p. 679 (March, roto). 

2 Quoted by Wilson, The State, p. 13. 

3 The State, pp. 2, 3, 13. 

4“ A Sociological View of Sovereignty,” American Journal of Sociology, Vol. V, 
p. 683; Vol. VI, p. 88. 


160 OUTLINES OF SOCIOLOGY 


you have the possession of women and children as private prop- 
erty.!. Thus, according to the writers represented by Wilson 
the state originated in the relations and institutions of kinship, 
while according to those represented by Commons it grew out 
of the institution of private property. 

Ethnic Basis of the State. — The primitive family, or the horde 
composed of several primitive family groups, was the primordial 
social group. Naturally out of these simple relationships grew 
the first attempt at group control. The individual’s social 
relations were within the group; he was connected with his 
fellows by blood bonds real or fictitious. In that homo- 
geneous social group we must place the beginnings of control 
which eventually expressed itself in political government. 
When the society was metronymic, the mother and her 
kindred regulated the group. Among tribes in which the pa- 
triarchal system prevailed, there was a much stronger organiza- 
tion, the family was more closely integrated, the governed and 
governing were more clearly separated, and control was much 
stricter. 

In the establishment and maintenance of social order the 
family frequently performed in a primitive way all the essential 
duties of the state. As the family multiplied in numbers 
through adoption and natural increase until it became a great 
tribe under the direction of the patriarch and chief, it became 
necessary to establish more elaborate methods of control. 
It became necessary for him to make certain rulings on new con- 
ditions that arose, as well as to carry out the practices and 
customs of the fathers, and then he became lawgiver. It was 
his custom also to pass judgment in order to settle the differences 
between members of the tribal family and thus he became the 
chief judge of the social group. Moreover, to the help of the 
patriarch as governor of the group, there was now added the 
force of the economic motive; he was not only the representa- 
tive of the gods, but was actually the owner of the women and 
children and held in trust for the group its common possessions.” 
While later his authority became delegated to other officers, 


1Commons, American Journal of Sociology, Vol. V, pp. 3, 12. 

2Cf. Commons, “A Sociological View of Sovereignty,” American Journal of 
Sociology, Vol. VI, p. 12. For the view that the state could not originate from the 
family, see Willoughby, The Nature of the State, p. 21. 


ORIGIN AND DEVELOPMENT OF THE STATE 161 


just as the power to legislate eventually passed from the head 
of the tribe or nation to a body of people selected for that pur- 
pose, in this early state of affairs the judicial, legislative, and 
executive powers of government were all vested in one man, 
the patriarch of the family. In him, therefore, rested whatever 
authority existed; and in him we find one historical origin of 
political control. Here, then, in these primitive kinship or- 
ganizations we have basic groups, the raw material out of which 
the state could develop when the new elements of a settled abode 
and a conqueror enforcing obedience were added — elements in- 
troduced by immigration and wars of conquest.! 

Race Conflict and Amalgamation. — But seldom if ever did 
a family expand into a tribe and the tribe into a civil unit with- 
out an intermixture of races. Once families or clans were well 
established and population increased, there began a struggle 
for existence. Tribal warfare brought about the extinction of 
some clans and the union of others. The union of the con- 
querors and the conquered occurred on the basis of the slavery 
of the latter. Sometimes, perhaps, assimilation of one group 
with another may have been attained by peaceful methods. 
Much more frequently, if not always, it was conquest that 
brought about the state. A conquered tribe was reduced to 
slavery, or at least to an inferior position in the conquering tribe. 
Then occurred the imposition of the will of the conqueror en- 
forcing obedience by one method or another and later a compro- 
mise as to rights, duties, and privileges, and the regulation of 
the political status of the members of the united groups.’ 
Athens and Rome, among the civilized nations, and the Iroquois, 
Hopi, Aztecs among the natural races, are examples of federated 
or united tribes. Many of these tribes passed through succes- 
sive stages of union with others, each stage being followed by 
a period of integration. During these successive unions and 
amalgamations of racial stocks, the duty of the individual to 
the whole mass became more clearly defined. The growth 
of the state has been along the line of complete union of dis- 
cordant racial elements, and full recognition of all classes. 

Transition from Ethnic to Civil Society. — The origin of the 
state as revealed in the constitution is more easily described. 


1 Ward, Pure Sociology, pp. 206-216. 
2 Giddings, Descriptive and Historical Sociology, pp. 357-374. 


M 


162 OUTLINES OF SOCIOLOGY 


We know how the civil state, the organization of civil society, 
came into existence among the ancient Greeks. Giddings has 
shown how various efforts to break down the gentile organiza- 
tion in order to meet the needs of society of that day were tried, 
but without success until in the time of Cleisthenes the simple 
expedient was adopted of enrolling all those who lived within 
the boundaries of a clan or tribe as members.! Giddings has 
clearly pointed out that while sovereignty usually is established 
first only by the conquest of one people by another, it gradu- 
ally changes its forms in conformity with changes in the social 
mind of a people. At first the conquering race imposes its will 
upon the conquered by force. This method of securing obedi- 
ence yields to others as the relation of sovereignty and obedience 
continues. Other forms of sovereignty are class sovereignty, 
which inspires obedience by the power of the mentally and 
morally superior aided by religion and tradition or exacts 
obedience through control of wealth; mass sovereignty, or the 
ability of an emotionally and fanatically unified majority to 
compel obedience; and general sovereignty, or the power of 
an enlightened and deliberative community by an appeal to 
reason and conscience to evoke obedience.?, With these forms 
of sovereignty, the civil state comes into existence. 

The Gentes as Political Units.2— In the expansion of the 
patriarchal family, certain closely related groups called gentes 
performed the most important services in the formation of politi- 
cal order and law. The gens was composed of families of the 
same blood organized on the clan basis. Members of the gens 
had a common religious belief, a common god, and, consequently, 
a common religious ceremony. They had a common burying 
ground and held public property in common. There were 
many customs and a few laws which controlled the gens. For 
instance, it was well established that the individual should 
not marry within the gens, but that he must go outside to obtain 
a wife, and that she should renounce the laws and customs of 
her own gens and adopt those of the one into which she came. 
Women who went out of the gens to marry took their property 
with them, hence, an exception to the rule was made in the case 

1 Principles of Sociology, 1900, p. 321. 


2 Descriptive and Historical Sociology, 1906, pp. 357-359. 
8 Gens and clan are used in nearly the same sense by writers. 


ORIGIN AND DEVELOPMENT OF THE STATE 163 


of an heiress, who was permitted to marry within the gens so 
as to retain her property. 

In the development of government marriage was at first a 
custom, then became an institution. During the process of 
change from custom to law the heads of the gentes became 
the advisers of the leader of the tribe, who himself eventually 
became king. This council of the chief of the tribe finally became 
the senate, that is, the old men who were capable of advice. 
Hence, in law or government the heads of the gentes were the 
most conspicuous of all the individuals of the family group. 
The settlements of the gentes in some cases became the political 
units of the new civil state. Moreover, they represented the 
points of transition from the family life to the state government. 

The Purposes of the Phratry.— The Greek phratry, or 
brotherhood, was organized for social purposes, especially for 
religious and political affiliations. It was composed of a group 
of nearly related gentes who dwelt in proximity to one another ; 
hence, in part, it represented the territorial idea of government. 
From this phase of government, which was represented in the 
Roman curia, arose the modern local government, as represented 
in the wards of cities. While the members of the gens might 
dwell apart from one another, those of the phratry had to be 
localized. Members of the phratry had a common religious 
worship and a common political leadership. In one sense it 
represented local government, and though it was still an ethnic 
group, its territorial organization was the beginning of the 
departure from ethnic or family government, for it laid the 
foundation of territorial representation in all of the ancient 
nations. The phratry was strongly marked in the Greek social 
polity. It is observable also in the Iroquois and other Indian 
tribes. Thus, in the federation of the Iroquois tribes, usually 
known as the Six Nations, each tribe had two phratries in the 
perfected government. For instance, the Cayuga tribe had 
two phratries, the first having five gentes, namely, bear, wolf, 
turtle, snipe, and eel, while the second phratry had three gentes, 
namely, deer, beaver, and hawk. These various relationships 
were clearly marked by political and social duties and privileges. 
Beyond this the phratry was not important in the formation of 
the state, as it was entirely overshadowed by the gens and the 
tribe. 


164 OUTLINES OF SOCIOLOGY 


The Tribal Organization. — Divided into phratries, the tribe 
existed as a federation based chiefly upon military service and 
a religious service common to all. Military leadership was its 
chief purpose of organization. A chief or leader was chosen from 
among the heads of the gentes. In war he led all the clans as 
commander in chief, in peace he presided over the heads of 
the gentes as a sort of patriarchal president. Subsequently, as 
the organization became more perfect, he was called king. But 
always and in every way he had large executive, judicial, and 
legislative power. Even the religious service of the tribe was 
under his direction and control. Political and religious inte- 
gration was secured thus in the tribe and universal tribal prac- 
tices were observed. ‘There was a generalization of political 
and religious practice, for the tribe could engage only in the 
most general phases of government and make only the most 
general laws. 

The Polis or City-State.— A form of ancient government 
based upon tribal units was the polis or city-state. While its 
management grew out of the ancient family organization, it 
also developed the community idea of government. It repre- 
sents the formal beginning of politics. 

Perhaps the best illustration of this was the city of Athens, 
which originally was composed of a group of village communities 
located over an extended territory. It became first a center 
for the assembling of the various ethnic groups for the control 
and administration of local affairs. The ancient city originally 
contained the temples of the gods and represented a seat of 
family worship. There was the market place and center of 
trade of the rural district, and there were festivals, courts, coun- 
cils, and sacrifices connected with these commercial and religious 
centers. It was at the city that people mustered in time of 
war; there dwelt the tribal chief and with him a few councillors, 
immediate followers and slaves; but the people dwelt elsewhere 
in clans, following the life of the ethnic group and living under 
its control. This ancient city represented only the beginning 
of the breaking up of the old family life. It eventually drew 
the elements of social and political life to itself, and around these 
elements came to cluster the majority of the people, until the 
city represented a democratic organization with family lines 
obliterated. , 


ORIGIN AND DEVELOPMENT OF THE STATE 165 


While the city was growing by degrees, becoming more and 
more important each succeeding generation, the organization 
of the clan or gens and the tribe continued. The hereditary 
chief or eldest male member of the group still ruled as priest, 
judge, and king. He was legislator, executor, and adminis- 
trator of affairs. Finally, the city became a confederation of 
several family groups. It was not an assembled group of the 
people arranged in wards with local self-government, but a 
meeting place for the representatives of the various federated 
family groups. However, as the ethnic society secured a geo- 
graphical location, the ancient city changed into a municipality 
or a city-state. The rise of the city government had weakened 
the family government in ways already indicated and the city 
had obtained the full supremacy. It represented a united body 
of people still arranged in ethnic groups for certain purposes, 
but containing many who were originally strangers and had been 
adopted into the clan or were considered members of the group 
who now lived within the bounds of the old clan territory, 
although the family government was subordinate to the city. 
Gradually political control by family groups faded out and the 
people became responsible as individuals to a central government 
of which they were a part. 

The polis or city-state, as it originated among the Greeks, 
differs somewhat from the civitas as devised by the Romans. 
The former corresponds in some ways to our modern munic- 
ipality, but it had absolute control; the latter corresponds more 
particularly to the modern state. The civitas is an expansion 
of the idea of universal government related to a central head 
or power and covering forms of local or subordinate government. 
The state of the Romans represented the government proceed- 
ing from the king to the people. It represented an imperial- 
ism, while the city-state, springing as it did from the representa- 
tives of the ethnic group, finally became a government of the 
people and tended toward a real democracy. 

Prominent Forces in State Building. — Having indicated the 
early social groups out of which the state developed, let us now 
inquire what social forces account for the development of the 
state from these simpler groups. 

One of these forces was religion. In ways detailed at length 
in another chapter religion helped in the consolidation of hetero- 


166 OUTLINES OF SOCIOLOGY 


geneous elements in an ethnic population by supporting the 
authority of the patriarch and in early civil society by support- 
ing the iron law of the conqueror. ‘To the fear of stern patriarch 
or conquering king religion added the fear of the more dreadful 
spirit of the dead ancestor or of transcendent Deity. In the 
transition from the tribal life to the state, a national religion 
was established. Thus, the family religion of certain tribes 
became the national religion of the Hebrew commonwealth, 
and so the expanded religion of the Aryan household became 
the national religion of the Greeks. 

Another important influence in the origin and development 
of the state was the economic motive. After wealth ceased to 
consist solely of trinkets and arms and came to include flocks 
and slaves, conquest became desirable for the booty to be 
obtained thereby. Conquest gave rise to the state, and in all 
history has continued to have an important influence upon its 
development. 

Still another factor in the origin and development of the 
state was the expanding consciousness of kind which came about 
as the size of kindreds grew and contacts within the group were 
multiplied, and as the number of independent groups increased 
and came into contact. Association thus induced kindled the 
intellectual and emotional nature of mankind, and made pos- 
sible new pleasures. Then the desire for booty joined hands 
with the desire for strange wives; these two motives led on to 
conquest and political development. 

With the enlargement of the kinship group there arose a 
desire for order and for protection among all members of the 
group. It is beyond the power of one man to regulate, control, 
and deal justly with a large body of people, as a father deals 
with his children. The social life becomes too complex for 
paternalism and so services and functions must be delegated 
to others. This delegation makes a perpetual differentiation of 
governmental functions, which differentiation marks the process 
of state building. 

All these influences operated to prepare a group for that 
ethnic solidarity which is a necessary preliminary to the develop- 
ment of the civil state, and the sovereignty characteristic of 
civil societies. Much as we may regret to say so, without a 
doubt the most influential of the forces which resulted in the 


ORIGIN AND DEVELOPMENT OF THE STATE 167 


making of a state was that motive — compounded of the desire 
for wealth and the desire for power over men — which may be 
termed the passion for domination which we see coming to 
expression in the tribal feudalism of the ancient Irish and the 
Modern Kaffirs. This motive, much tempered in the tribe by 
the bands of kinship and restricted by custom and the tradition 
of the elders, found outlet and stimulation in the little groups of 
kinwrecked men gathered about a virile and ambitious leader.1 
After chieftainship had developed, then followed war and con- 
quest by a migrating people. The stern necessities of war 
further developed the chieftain, that forerunner of so many 
important functions in government, — ruler, judge, priest, and 
capitalist. Out of war and conquest as a first step, grew the 
assimilation of peoples, which, if not too different in their cus- 
toms and manners, amalgamated sooner or later, and produced 
a more plastic-minded people. The larger and more complex 
developments of statehood grow out of the necessary arrange- 
ment made necessary by the inevitable relationship between a 
conquering and conquered people in close relationships which 
are new to both. War and conquest are self-limiting and neces- 
sarily lead to other things. The conquerors marry, or at least 
cohabit with, the women of the conquered. A mixed race ap- 
pears usually with the religion of the mothers, yet not hostile 
to the ideas and service of the conquerors. Yet the laws which 
had risen in response to the necessity of regulating the inter- 
course of the two peoples are not repealed at once. Constantly 
new laws have to be enacted. Hence, lawmaking becomes a 
science. Wherever there are new laws and men’s lives are 
regulated by law instead of by custom, there is need for inter- 
pretation of those laws and for settling disputes which arise 
over them. Courts, therefore, come into being under such 
conditions. Native customs and the customs of the conquerors 
conflict with each other, and each modifies the other. Language 
is modified, art develops, ideals clash and coalesce. In every 
realm of life there goes on modification. The chieftain of the 
invaders becomes a king, his adherents the body of chief ad- 
visers, and the holders of place and power. In these and a 
thousand other ways a great impetus is given to the construc- 


1See Giddings, Elements of Sociology, pp. 267-270; Descriptive and Historical 
Sociology, pp. 469-473. 


168 OUTLINES OF SOCIOLOGY 


tive imagination of those who have the task of keeping order 
and holding securely what they have won by the sword. 

The Differentiation of Political Organs and Functions. — In 
the development of these various forms of government there 
was a constant change in the titles and functions of officers and 
administrators. These changes varied according to the evolu- 
tion of government itself. Kings were made by a social process, 
no less definite than the processes of nature which developed the 
plants of the field or the trees of the forest. As it was but 
natural that the father of the family in a patriarchal society 
should be the one to lead and control, so it was again the natural 
outcome of this leadership, when the family expanded into a 
tribe of many groups of people, that the father or oldest male 
should be the leader. It was evident that when religion became 
involved in government the family which could show the longest 
lineage and therefore fix its relationship most nearly to the gods 
had the most power. Hence, it came about that the hereditary 
principle prevailed in the choosing of the ruler of the tribe. 
As government became more complex and as tribes became 
federated, one of these hereditary chiefs or leaders who also had 
ability in war and government, became king, but the king could 
not bear his responsibilities without counselors, so it became 
customary for him to summon old men who were heads of the 
gentes, the eldest male members, to counsel with him in the 
proceedings of the primitive state. These counselors became 
the Senate, an institution which remains to this day as one of 
the important powers of government in our modern system. 
Now, as the king could not do everything, gradually his advisers 
were called on to do more and more of the administrative work 
of the government. Beyond this the king had special officers 
to assist him in the leadership of war and administration of 
religion, and, indeed, in the administration of all the minor 
affairs of the state. And thus the king became, finally, the 
head of a group of administrative, executive, judicial, and legis- 
lative bodies, and the chief executive and head of a group of 
officers, as well as ruler of the people. 

It was impossible for the king to act as judge to all his people 
in person and so he appointed people to represent him, and 
this custom developed into a law, and the officers that repre- 
sented the king became more and more important until finally 


ORIGIN AND DEVELOPMENT OF THE STATE 169 


a judicial system was established in which grievous cases only 
were appealed to the king. But in the final development of 
government the king gave way to the supreme court as the 
final court of appeals. 

Thus as the process of government became more complex 
and specialized, the people commanded greater and greater 
consideration. At first the power was given them to approve 
or disapprove what the Senate or the king had decreed. Later 
they had the privilege of voting on measures introduced by 
others, and, finally, they gained the right of originating laws and 
passing them. Primarily this was carried on by the whole 
group of people, but later by representatives of the people 
chosen for this specific purpose of legislation. Thus was de- 
veloped the popular assembly so powerful in Greece and Rome, 
and the main power in the modern government of England and 
America. Thus, the family with its traditions and customs 
and its ethnic government expanded until a state was formed 
with no reference to family relationship, but in which the in- 
dividual sustained a direct relationship to the whole body. 
Thus from a king or patriarchal president, who held within his 
grasp all the powers of government, was gradually differentiated 
the various departments of government as they exist to-day. 

Beginnings of the Federation of States.— The various 
changes that took place in the development of the state left. 
some tendencies which were influential in the development of 
certain forms of government. The federation of tribes and 
families and local groups in the building of a state would seem 
to suggest a continuation of the federal idea in the union of 
states. The Greeks attempted this in the ancient leagues, like 
the Atolian, the Achzan, and the Lycian. These were attempts 
to unite many of the Greek states into one federal group, but 
Greek federation failed because of the strong influences of local 
self-government and the jealousies of states. In some respects 
it was unfortunate, for doubtless a united Greece would have 
been able to withstand the attacks of enemies. That federation 
was quite a natural step in the development of the state seems 
to be evident from the attempts already mentioned, of the 
Iroquois Indians to federate, and of the Aztecs of Mexico, and 
others that might be cited as examples. Federation is only a 
process of closer integration of various elements. Wherever it 


170 OUTLINES OF SOCIOLOGY 


has continued long, as in the Netherlands, Switzerland, and the 
United States, the tendency has been to amalgamate the entire 
group of states into one national body. Integration in social 
and political development goes on constantly so far as the 
groups of individuals are concerned, while on the other hand, 
there is a constant differentiation of powers and functions and 
a constant change of conception of the relation of the individual 
to the state. 

The Modern Social State. — The state is usually defined as 
a politically organized group occupying a specific territory. 
By politically organized we mean, of course, having a code of 
laws and a well-regulated government. It occupies a territory 
which belongs to it and which it assumes to defend against all 
others. : 

But in the modern state there is a growing tendency towards 
more complete democracy ; hence, in this complex phase of its 
development we must consider it as a closely integrated collec- 
tion of individuals and groups having widely different functions. 
The state to-day is a socially organized organic group with cer- 
tain people chosen to control, while others agree to obey. But 
each individual has a distinctive place and performs a distinc- 
tive service. In the modern democracy the state cannot exist 
apart from the people, and the whole people are organized by 
mutual agreement, tacit or expressed, in industry, service, and 
self-control. In the evolution of the state from the family 
there have been represented all ideas of government, from the 
first bare life protection to the establishment of social order, 
and, in the final instance, to the conscious purpose of securing 
the social well-being of the whole people. So the state of to-day 
represents the conscious, living emanation of the multiple 
thoughts, sentiments, and will of the people concerning social 
order and social control, social well-being, and the rights, privi- 
leges, and duties of individuals in their relations to one another 
and to the social group as a whole. 


REFERENCES 


Buiuntscuatit, J. K. The Modern State. 

Commons, J. R. “A Sociological View of Sovereignty,” American Journal 
of Sociology, Vol. V, pp. I-15, 155-171, 347-366, 544-552, 683-695, 
814-825; Vol. VI, pp. 67-89. 


ORIGIN AND DEVELOPMENT OF THE STATE Lt 


FUSTEL DE COULANGES. The Ancient City, pp. 154-238. 

FREEMAN, E. A. Comparative Politics, pp. 76-136. 

Fow er, W. W. The City-State of the Greeks and Romans, pp. 1-183. 
GippINcs, F. H. Principles of Sociology, pp. 299-360. 

HEARN, W. E. The Aryan Household, pp. 143-166, 317-341. 

Morean, Lewis H. Ancient Society, pp. 215-276. 

OPPENHEIMER, FRANZ. The State (English Translation by Gitterman, 1914). 
SCHOEMANN, G. F. Antiquities of Greece; The State, pp. 81-114, 311-347. 
Witson, Wooprow. The State, pp. 1-10. 


QUESTIONS AND EXERCISES 


1. Distinguish between the state and society. Give an example. 

2. Would you call the condition of society which existed in one of the 
pioneer Western communities in the early days of this country a state? 
Give reasons. 

3. Were the Indian tribes which the white man found in this country 
at the time of its discovery a state, or states? Give reasons. 

4. Differentiate the state behind the constitution and the state as revealed 
in the constitution at the time of the establishment of the government of 
the United States. 

5. Read Giddings, Descriptive and Historical Sociology, pp. 469-480, and 
then decide what you think is the most important step in the development 
from an ethnic society to a civil state. 

6. What part did the conflict of tribal groups play in the origin and 
development of the state? 

7. Describe the part which the clans played in the development of the 
state. What is the modern survival in England of the ancient clan? 

8. Name the most important influences which originated the state, as 
set forth in the text. Compare this statement with the steps given by Op- 
penheimer in his The State, Chap. II (Bobbs, Merrill & Co.). 

g. What political purposes did the phratry serve? Has the phratry any 
survival in modern political subdivisions? 

10. Why did the city-state develop in Greece and Rome? Were there 
any city-states in medieval Europe? Why were there none in the develop- 
ment of the state in what is now the United States? 

11. Describe the growth of political organs and functions in one of our 
new Western states. Why is the development of these functions in the 
United States not typical of the way in which they developed in, let us say, 
medieval Europe? 

12. What evidence can you offer that the federation of the states of the 
United States is not yet complete? 

13. In what general ways does the modern social state differ from England, 
let us say, of the time of William the Norman? 


CHAPTER VIII 
THEORY AND FUNCTION OF THE STATE 


Social Evolution and the Theory of the State. — We have 
seen in the previous chapter how the state itself has its roots 
in the undifferentiated society of primitive peoples. Professor 
Commons says, “‘ In primitive society sovereignty and its in- 
stitution, the state, were blended homogeneously with all the 
other psychic motives and social institutions.”1 In form the 
state was a different thing in different stages of social develop- 
ment. Once the state and the family, or at least the kindred, 
were quite undifferentiated. To-day their spheres are clearly 
separate one from the other and their respective functions 
sharply differentiated. So the theory of the state has changed 
with the change in its form of organization. There has been an 
evolution of the theory of the state throughout the ages since 
men began to speculate concerning its nature and the reasons 
for its existence, with its power over the individuals subject to 
it. Had there been a political philosopher among the individuals 
composing a paleolithic horde during glacial times in Europe, 
doubtless his theory of the nature of the state, or what in some 
measure was the forerunner of what has come to be called by 
that name, would have been much different from the theory of 
our modern political philosophers. He had not the experiences 
in governmental matters which the last three thousand years 
have supplied on which to base his generalizations. The theory 
of the state possible when a king could say L’état, c’est mot, 
cannot possibly be the theory generally held when a majority 
of the people determine political issues. This is not to deny 
that political ideas persist from age to age and influence nations 
widely different in their political structure. Thus, Greece and 
Rome have contributed principles of government that have in- 
1“ A Sociological View of Sovereignty,” American Journal of Sociology, Vol. 

EPiG: 
172 


THEORY AND FUNCTION OF THE STATE 173 


fluenced all states organized since. The form of government 
affects the political theory held at the time, and on the other 
hand, the theory of the state influences the form of government. 
From the interplay of these two influences upon each other — 
society upon theory, and theory upon society —comes the 
development step by step which we see both in the forms of 
states and in the theory of the state. 

State Theories. — The play of human reason upon the facts 
of political experience gives the world its theories of the state. 
When the inquiring mind of man began to question as to the 
origin of the state and its raison d’étre, naturally his guesses 
were as far from the truth as the guesses of primitive man at 
the nature of the Universe. These theories range from the 
assumption of the divine origin of the state to the theory that 
men organized the state that they might survive and live 
together harmoniously. Types of the various theories of the 
state will be cited by way of illustration. 

(1) Divine Origin of the State. — Farthest away from the real 
truth is the theory that government and law are the direct 
creations of God. According to this theory, lawgivers, states- 
men, and rulers are the special agents or viceregents of God in 
establishing social order among His people. ‘The results are 
seen in the assumption of power by the Louises of France and 
the Stuarts of England and in the theory of the Holy Roman 
Empire. No doubt the state is a divine institution in the same 
sense as a tree or a rock or the forces of nature are divine creations, 
but there appears to be no special order in the creation of the 
state more than in any other phenomenon. We see that the 
state evolved under the direction of man and in accordance 
with his needs. The religious theory led to the conclusion that 
a king was of a higher order of nature than his subjects, and 
while we find traces of this idea in modern life, the world has 
grown to recognize that the principal fact that gives the king 
or the chief executive of a government importance is that he 
represents the race or the nation. It is in him that the unity 
of the nation is symbolized and through him that the voice of 
the people is expressed. 

The theory of the divine origin of the state has arisen where 
religion and government or the church and the state have been 
closely blended. In the ancient despotisms, where kings traced 


174 OUTLINES OF SOCIOLOGY 


their lineage to the gods, in the Hebrew theocracy where Jehovah 
was the recognized head of the commonwealth, and more than 
all, in the Medieval Period where the church assumed many 
of the functions of political government, the idea of the divine 
origin of the state appeared. 

Man made his own capacity for government by his own effort 
in the establishment of social order. There seems to be no 
more direct divine agency in the making of the government 
than in the making of a steam engine or in the organization and 
management of a railroad. 

(2) Traditions of Lawgivers. — Far different from the theory 
of a divinely instituted state was the tradition concerning 
ancient lawgivers who, it is assumed, laid the foundation of the 
state by formulating systems of government and codes of law 
for the regulation of social order. It was an easy way to ac- 
count for the origin of the state to assume that Moses, or 
Lycurgus, or Solon, or Numa, or Alfred, by superior wisdom 
made the code of laws or founded the state. While it is evident 
that these ancient lawgivers formulated codes and systems of 
government very early in the history of national existence, yet 
prior to them each society had been growing into social order 
through custom, the decrees of kings, and the practice of justice 
and social control. These ancient wise men were formulators 
of laws and customs already practiced by the people and their 
originality consisted more in the modification and interpreta- 
tion of laws than in the recognition of the state or in the creation 
of new forms of government. 

(3) Government Contract.—The government contract is a 
theory that is based upon actual conditions that have existed at 
different times during the progress of civil government. The 
rights of rulers are secured by a contract between them and 
the people. The feudal government was based on this kind of 
contract. Indeed, somewhat earlier the practice of rulers 
holding their power through contract existed in many instances. 
The theory has never had much ‘influence, although the principle 
at the foundation has worked itself out in other theories. It 
was really but a crude expression of the elective principle. It is 
an approach to the view that the nght of government rested 
with the people, who, however, by an original contract, gave it 
over to rulers. 


THEORY AND FUNCTION OF THE STATE 175 


(4) The Social Contract. — Perhaps no theory of the state has 
given rise to greater controversy nor has had greater influence 
on political philosophy than what is known as the “ social con- 
tract.”” The principal advocates of this theory were Hooker,! 
Hobbes,”? Locke,? and Rousseau. Each one presented different 
views of the theory which culminated through a process of evo- 
lutionary thought in the Social Contract of Rousseau, who gave 
the most formal exposition of the subject. It is not possible 
here to follow the development of the theory through its different 
phases, and it will serve present purposes to state the main 
features of the doctrine as expounded by Rousseau. 

The theory is based on the hypothesis that men are governed 
originally only by natural law and that each one should other- 
wise be free and independent in a state of nature. Men were 
brought together into political societies by mutual attraction, 
by the need of companionship, and in order to insure individual 
development. This companionship led to perpetual struggle 
for individual rights and supremacy, — a struggle which could 
only be abolished by a mutual contract of individuals to main- 
tain social order by a surrender on the part of each of certain 
rights of independent action. This “ contract ’”’ theory sought 
“To find a form of association which may defend and protect 
with the whole force of the community the person and property 
of every associate, and by means of which, coalescing with all, 
may nevertheless obey only himself, and remain as free as be- 
fore.” Expressed by Rousseau, the essence of this contract 
is, “‘ Each of us puts in common his person and his whole power 
under supreme direction of the general will; and in return we 
receive every member as an indivisible part of the whole.” 5 
Thus, men agree to enter into one body politic and pass from 
natural to civil government. In this the citizen loses his natural 
liberty, but gains civil liberty by the social contract. 

The principal defect of the theory as advanced by Rousseau 
is the ideal state of nature which he presents. The only natural 
right that exists is that born of the instinct or impulse to survive. 
There are no natural rights to be surrendered for civil rights. 

1 Richard Hooker, Ecclesiastical Polity. 
Thomas Hobbes, Leviathan. 
3 John Locke, Two Treatises of Government. 


4 Jean Jacques Rousseau, The Social Contract. 
5 Rousseau, Social Contract, Bk. I, Chap. VI. 


176 OUTLINES OF SOCIOLOGY 


There was no first convention by which each one surrendered 
his rights to a common public. Nor is it correct to assume that 
man had inherent political rights, or even natural freedom and 
equality. These assumptions present an ideal state of society 
and an ideal compact. There are instances in which certain 
phases of the social contract seem to appear. Thus, in the 
compact entered into by the passengers on the Mayflower, and 
in the organization of communities and states on the Western 
frontier, where individuals submit to a constitution and govern- 
ment, we have suggestions of the social contract. Yet it must 
be remembered that the state had been in existence thousands of 
years before such a contract was ever heard of and that the 
forms of government used and the laws adopted were but the 
product of the evolution of civil society and have no reference 
to a first cause of government. The social contract theory, in 
seeking to find a reason for the state’s existence, finds no real 
first convention, nor any later contractual rights of the citizen. 
There are many social causes that bring about the aggregation 
of mankind and many sources of order and government, but the 
individual has only such rights and privileges as society, of 
which he is a member, grants him. Yet, it remains true that 
social order is established by each yielding to a form of pro- 
cedure, and by his willingness to make sacrifices of individual 
liberty for the well-being of the community. 

(5) Theories of Publicists.—In the development of the 
theory of the state, many philosophers who have tried to view 
the state historically have worked far toward a proper under- 
standing of it. They have prepared the way for the recognition 
of the true theory of the state, because they proceeded from the 
experience of humanity rather than from @ priori premise. 
Their arguments are not to prove the right of the state to exist, 
but rather an attempt to discover what the state is like and 
how it came into being. 

Perhaps of all the ancient philosophers, Aristotle! has dis- 
cussed the state with the greatest wisdom and skill. He holds 
primarily that “ man is a political animal ” with an instinct for 
government. This capacity for governing was the primal 
cause of the origin of government; its practice was the test of 
its quality in different peoples. Aristotle’s Politics was based 

1 See Part VII, Chap. I. 


THEORY AND FUNCTION OF THE STATE 177 


upon the best practices of the most successful nations. He was 
the first to recognize the historical development of government 
and social order. However, he recognized a cycle of forms 
decidedly interesting, but not absolutely correct. In _ his 
analysis he holds that monarchy is the first essential form of 
political government. This was followed in the natural order 
by aristocracy or government of the best, and aristocracy passed 
into oligarchy, which led on to democracy, and democracy 
passed into the mob rule (ochlocracy). At this juncture the 
tyrant appears and social order is reéstablished through the 
monarch. While this formal cycle of change has not been 
universal, it has been repeated many times in history. The three 
legitimate forms of government recognized by Aristotle are 
monarchy, aristocracy, and democracy, all others being spurious. 
However, the democracy of Aristotle is a government of classes. 
The modern democracy was not discussed by him, although 
his ‘‘ polity” was similar in some respects to modern forms. 
When once thoroughly established, the modern democracy dis- 
poses of his cycle theory. Aristotle developed the broad 
theory of human rights, but showed how the service of the in- 
dividual must seek the well-being of the community. His 
rights as an individual are absorbed to a great extent in the 
rights of the whole community. 

Among modern scholars no one has had wider influence than 
Bluntschli. A master of political science, he has given us a 
theory of the modern state in which he shows its progression 
from the family. He defines the state as “a combination or 
association of men in the form of government and governed, 
on a definite territory, united together in a moral organized 
masculine personality, or, more shortly, the state is the po- 
litically organized national person of a definite country.” + He 
calls the state a living organism because it is ‘‘a union of soul 
and body, z.e. of material elements and vital forces,’’ and because 
the organism has members “ which are animated by special 
motives and capacities in order to satisfy in various ways the 
various needs of the whole itself.” He says that “ the organism 
develops itself from within outwards, and has an extreme 
growth.”’ Having declared this, he proceeds to show how this 
organism came to be, how it grows, and the various causes of 

1 The Theory of the State, p. 23. 
N 


178 OUTLINES OF SOCIOLOGY 


growth, and seeks to verify his conclusions by citations of the 
facts in the process of growth. This is a recognition of the 
evolution of the state. Bluntschli insists that definite territory 
is essential to the constitution of a state, while Woodrow Wil- 
son points out, in his book on The State, that it is possible for a 
tribal state to exist while the people have no settled habitation. 
The Franks, before they had established themselves on a 
definite piece of territory, had some of the essential elements of 
the state. Also many of the Semitic tribes have many of the 
powers and activities of the state, although they are more or 
less nomadic. Yet these are examples of ethnic groups and not 
of demotic society. In modern life our conception of a state 
unquestionably includes the location of the people so organized 
on a definite territory. 

The Evolutionary Theory.— The theorist asks, ‘‘ What 
right have certain people who hold the power, to coerce others 
into regulated action through the machinery of government?” 
That is really a social question and must be answered by the 
sociologist who seeks to interpret the state by considering it as 
the outgrowth of the same social forces as have produced the 
other social institutions such as marriage, church, and economic 
organization. Although the practical outcome of state theory 
is of great importance to the sociologist who seeks to furnish 
a program for political action, to him the theory of the state 
must be based not “in the constitution of things,” but in the 
nature of society. Sociology helps to determine the position 
of the state as a conscious agency for the improvement of human 
society, demonstrating its powers and limiting its functions in 
accordance with true evolution. State theory considers the 
rational basis of state right and statecraft. 

The sociologist views the state as a gradual development 
brought about by the attempt of men to live together harmoni- 
ously. The state was not the beginning of human society, 
but one of the later devices to procure social welfare through 
definite and clearly defined methods of political control. Con- 
sidered historically, the elements of the state were founded not 
by the plan of God or man, nor by the agreement of a group of 
individuals to live together with equality and justice, but is a 
by-product of the attempt of individuals to adjust their differ- 
ences and to promote their welfare. Primarily, no one intended 


THEORY AND FUNCTION OF THE STATE 179 


to build a state, but it simply grew, incidentally, while men were 
attempting to satisfy their desires in other directions. Through 
a natural order, beginning with the family and extending 
through the gens or tribe, and finally emerging as the transition 
was made from custom to law, from status to political life, the 
state has slowly evolved. There is only a partial truth in each 
of the state theories advanced by philosophers, but there can 
be nothing truer than the sociological theory of the gradual 
development of laws and of social control, brought about by 
the natural evolution of society in response to conditions, 
physical, economic, and social. 

Yet there must be added to this the constant choice of society 
in the establishment of social order, in the adoption of forms of 
government, and in the creation of wise laws to protect and 
guard human rights and privileges, as well as to impose social 
and political duties. This conscious choice of the social mind 
followed in order the unconscious growth of society. Any one 
who has read at all carefully the history of the struggle for civil 
liberty knows how out of the clash of opposing interests, prin- 
ciples of government which have been fundamental to our 
modern theories of the state were developed, such, for example, 
as the consent of the governed, or the principle of taxation only 
upon representation, or that of the voting of taxes only by the 
representatives of the people who pay them. 

Nor must the formation of codes of laws as a means of pro- 
ducing social order be ignored. The expression of the best 
methods of government and the best laws for the control of 
man gave a great impulse toward the building of the state. 
No one can estimate the effect on social order of the publication 
of the first code of laws of a society. Yet the lawgivers did 
not make the state. 

The Essential Functions of the State. — Recognizing that 
states continue to grow by enlarging their inherent powers and 
growing from without by adding to the number of functions, one 
may insist that there are certain characteristics and certain essen- 
tial functions of a community to be observed before it can con- 
sistently be called a state. Adhering in part to the outline of 
Dr. Wilson,! the list of essential functions may be stated briefly as 
follows : 

1 The State, pp. 639-640. 


180 OUTLINES OF SOCIOLOGY 


(1) Social Order.— Were people all well intentioned and 
willing to observe the Golden Rule in their treatment of one 
another, still it would be necessary for some authority to estab- 
lish and preserve the order of their going, that confusion might 
be prevented. The idealistic anarchists are wrong in assum- 
ing that if every one was willing to do right, there would be no 
need of government. While the real order of society may not 
be founded on coercion, it remains true that the regulative power 
of government is essential in order that people may have an 
acknowledged universal guide to determine their proper place 
in the social world. 

(2) To Provide for the Protection of Person and Property from 
Violence and Robbery. — In the most highly developed societies 
there are those who do not observe the rights of person or prop- 
erty. They do not hesitate to take that which belongs to an- 
other or to attack others and do them injury if they so desire. 
Hence, it is essential in every well-regulated community that 
such persons be restrained. Such protection is perhaps the most 
fundamental of the services of government; for the economic 
and social life of the people depends upon it. Without the 
faithful exercise of this function of government, all others will 
fail to give justice and promote the well-being of the community. 

(3) The Defining of Legal Relations between Man and Wife 
and between Parents and Children. — While the family precedes 
the state in the order of development, it has surrendered, in a 
measure, to the state the general definition and regulation of 
rights of its members. The marriage relation, so largely an 
individual matter, becomes a general social question when re- 
sults are considered. So far as these relationships affect the 
whole social order they are regulated by the government. Like- 
wise, the relation of children to parents is naturally a private one, 
but so far-reaching is this relationship in its effects on the social 
body that it must of necessity be regulated. While the state 
refrains from invasion of the sacred precincts of the home to 
regulate its internal affairs, yet so far as the rights of the individ- 
ual permit, laws must be passed and executed for the establish- 
ment of social order in the home. The ignorance of many, the 
errors of judgment of others, and the mere viciousness of still 
others demand that the family life shall not be used as a means 
of working injury or injustice to any person; otherwise society 


THEORY AND FUNCTION OF THE STATE ISI 


might be destroyed by the corruption of the family, the 
fundamental social unit. 

(4) The Regulation of the Holding, Transmission, and Inter- 
change of Property. — One can imagine a community holding 
all property without any formal individual ownership. This 
has been practiced to a certain extent by some communities. 
The communists advocate this and the anarchists have denied 
the right of individual ownership. Proudhon, leader of one 
school of modern anarchists, claimed that ‘‘ property is robbery,” 
and that property holders were robbers because they had seized 
that which belonged to all and held it as individual property. 
But in community holding, it would be necessary to have the 
use of such property regulated, and as the kinds and nature of 
possessions change, new laws must be instituted, from time to 
time, to avoid confusion and oppression. However, one of 
the bases of social life is the ownership of property. It 
has arisen through the practical needs of society and has been 
carefully defined and guarded by law. Even though it be con- 
ceded that the acquisition of property has resulted from the 
combined efforts of the members of the community, it is the 
acknowledged right of every one “to have and to hold” and 
the state must protect every one in this right. Consequently 
what an individual owns he may dispose of and the government 
again comes into its legitimate province in regulating the ex- 
change of property, as well as the inheritance of property. 

(5) The Determination of Liability for Debt or Crime. — After 
the fourth function the fifth follows as a necessary corollary. 
Otherwise, debts could be contracted and the persons contract- 
ing them could repudiate them. Without regulation, the 
business confidence would be so limited as to destroy the 
commerce and exchange of the nation. Indeed, those so dis- 
posed could practice confiscation and robbery without the 
restraint of government. So, too, as crime is a violation of 
law, individuals must be held responsible for it or otherwise 
no social order could be secured. 

(6) The Determination of Contract Rights between Individ- 
uals. — Here we have again the enforced responsibility of an 
individual to his fellows. It would be impossible to have a 
well-regulated social order without it. While the stability of 
business rests to-day largely upon the voluntary honesty of 


182 OUTLINES OF SOCIOLOGY 


individuals in their dealings with one another, the opportunity 
for the irresponsible to repudiate obligations incurred makes it 
highly necessary for the government to guarantee, by well- 
conceived laws, the enforcement of obligations. Differences 
of opinion might also cause great confusion as to what consti- 
tuted a contract and how it should be fulfilled. Hence a 
general regulation is necessary, and the state alone can make 
such a regulation. 

(7) The Definition and Punishment of Crime. — Without 
law or regulation by the state, society would imperfectly adjust 
itself to a social usage. Certain things would be recognized as 
against the welfare of the community. There would naturally 
appear a consensus of social opinion which would determine 
what was right and what was wrong in society. But the law 
determines what is crime against society and demands a penalty 
for offenses. Originally the offense was only against the indi- 
vidual and it rested with the individual to settle with the 
offender. But it finally became the duty of the state to protect 
not only the individual, but also to protect itself, hence the 
offense is against society and the government must define the 
crime and institute the punishment therefor. 

(8) The Administration of Justice in Civil Causes. — Dis- 
putes over rights of property and personal privileges are certain 
to arise in every community. The settlement of these conten- 
tions or disagreements must be made by some disinterested 
person. The state, being the only power that can operate in- 
dependently of individual interest, becomes the natural judge 
and therefore the administrator of justice between all contending 
parties. It would be impossible to preserve social order or to 
establish social justice without such administration. 

(9) The Determination of the Political Duties, Privileges, and 
Relations of Citizens. — What part the citizen shall take in the 
government depends upon the nature of the government in- 
stituted, but every state implies the governing and the governed. 
Sovereignty is the supreme authority of the state. Through 
its own will the state assumes and maintains the authority 
which may be expressed through king, parliament, or constitu- 
tion. It is the sovereign will of the state that regulates political 
duties and privileges of citizens. In a republican form of 
government like our own, where it is assumed that people govern 


THEORY AND FUNCTION OF THE STATE 183 


themselves through their representatives, the sovereign power 
rests, for the time being, in the constitution which is created 
by the people, that is, the people define through constitutions, 
laws, and authorized administration their own political rights, 
duties, and privileges. The right to vote, to hold office, the duty 
of taxation, and the duty to bear arms in defense of the country, 
and the political limitations and duties of officers, must all be 
established by the government through well-defined laws and 
regulations. 

(10) The State must preserve its Life and maintain its Po- 
litical Relationship with Foreign Powers. — Every state stands 
as a unit in relation to other states and as such its individuality 
and independence must be maintained. Hence all intercourse 
with foreign powers must be conducted by the state. It must 
preserve the people from external danger or encroachment of 
other powers and must advance all the interests of the state in 
relation to foreign powers. It must see that the state’s rights 
and privileges are maintained and that its citizens and their 
property are protected when involved in international affairs. 

In the most limited conception of the state, its government 
must possess at least the powers enumerated above, in order to 
maintain itself and perform all of the necessary functions of 
statehood. Not one of the above-enumerated functions could 
be left out without crippling the power of the state, and every 
modern state attempts to perform these functions in one way or 
another. 

Optional Functions of the State. — While the above list rep- 
resents the minimum requirements of statehood, there are no 
limits placed upon the action of a state provided it advance the 
interests of all the people and increase the well-being of the 
public. Hence it is that states vary in the number of things 
they attempt to do for the people. There are many optional 
functions which at least some states have assumed. ‘The fol- 
lowing is a partial list. 

(1) The Regulation of Trade and Industry. — Most modern 
governments find this essential to the welfare of the state. In 
fact, all nations have regulated trade and commerce to a con- 
siderable extent. It becomes necessary for the government to 
coin money, to establish standards of weights and measures, 
and to regulate certain trades through license. In a larger 


184 OUTLINES OF SOCIOLOGY 


way governments have regulated navigation and _ transporta- 
tion and established tariffs for the regulation of industry and 
trade. This service of government increases in modern times. 
There is no limit to the action of the state in this matter except 
that of sound judgment and the possibilities of promotion of 
its own interest and the welfare of the people it represents. At 
various times in the history of the world states have gone too 
far in regulating industries, and at other times they have not 
gone far enough. The tariff, for instance, may be used to build 
up one industry at the expense of others and to interfere with 
the foreign commerce of the nation to its own detriment. Pos- 
sibilities of this kind indicate that laws for the regulation of 
trade should be instituted with the utmost care. 

(2) The Regulation of Labor.— All modern nations have 
attempted to regulate labor to a greater or less extent. Whether 
it was slave labor or free and independent, states have found 
it necessary to establish laws regulating master and slave, em- 
ployer and employee, and to define the rights of the laborer. 
In the present industrial era this function of the state has 
grown large. If one were to consider the legislation of the 
various states of the Union in recent times, he would observe 
that a large body of law had been created for the regulation of 
labor. Indeed, the greater part of the legislation in the United 
States in the last twenty years has been in relation to the in- 
dustrial life, including labor. Political rights and privileges 
have, in the main, long since been settled, but rights, duties, 
and privileges of a growing industrial world must be settled in 
accordance with the existing conditions. 

(3) The State Management of Industry. — Under this heading 
we have a large group of varied services of the state, such as 
the construction of roads, the ownership or management of 
railways or canals, the building of harbors and docks, the im- 
provement of land by drainage or irrigation, and the dredging of 
rivers for internal communication. Included in this list is the 
protection of forests and of game and the stocking of rivers 
with fish. 

There is also another group which varies a little from the 
maintenance of thoroughfares, that is, systems of communica- 
tion. These include the postal and telegraph and telephone 
systems. The government may own and control all of these. 


THEORY AND FUNCTION OF THE STATE 185 


As most governments have established their own postal system, 
there seems but little reason why the government should refrain 
from owning and managing the telegraph and telephone systems. 

A third group is found in the ownership and distribution of 
public utilities. The distribution of water, of gas, and elec- 
tricity by the government is among the important measures 
adopted by some municipalities. 

(4) Sanitation, including the Regulation of Trades for Sanitary 
Purposes. — This is necessary to the social well-being of a com- 
munity, and the state has good reason for performing this serv- 
ice, for the health of a community increases its labor power, 
prevents pauperism and crime, and develops happiness and 
prosperity. The selfishness of individual interests would neg- 
lect sanitation and would lead to the spread of disease, therefore 
it is essential that the government take a hand in regulating the 
sanitation of the community. It is a true saying that ‘‘ public 
health is public wealth,’ and the comfort and convenience of 
individuals not only increase wealth, but are essential to the 
general prosperity of the community. 

(5) Education. — Most states have much to do with public 
education. They have either encouraged it by granting priv- 
ileges and subsidies or established and managed it on their 
own account. It is generally conceded that in a free govern- 
ment in which the people take part it is necessary that education 
should be universal. The only way to make it universal is to 
provide for the maintenance of schools by the state. In our own 
country, while the state may educate the individual for the indi- 
vidual’s personal advantage, there is a deeper social foundation 
for education. The state exercises this function for the general 
defense and welfare of the people; through education it desires 
to make better citizens, better equipped men to fill the pro- 
fessions and departments of life, in order that the interests of 
the state may be conserved. While a state may exist without 
public education, education is essential to the highest forms of 
the modern state. 

(6) The Care of the Poor and Incapable.1— This function 
has been practiced by states in varying degrees, but has 
never been considered universally necessary. In many in- 
stances the poor and incapable have been left to their 

1See Part V, Chaps. IT and VI. 


186 OUTLINES OF SOCIOLOGY 


own resources or to the tender mercies of individuals, or to 
private societies. The chief instances of the state care of the 
poor is found in the action of England through its well-known 
Poor Laws. The English government sought to care for every- 
body who needed help, and chiefly through maladministration 
increased the evil it sought to cure. It brought about a condi- 
tion in which the poor were taxed into pauperism. Perhaps 
the people of the United States are more liberal in the care of 
the poor and incapable than any other nation. While we 
have thousands of private benevolent institutions caring for 
all classes of those who need help, nearly all the states of the 
Union have made provision for the welfare of dependents, de- 
fectives, and delinquents. It is even deemed necessary in 
modern times for the state to have a Board of Charities or a 
Board of Control to supervise: these charitable institutions. 
While it is not the right of an incapable person to demand help 
of the state, it is deemed the duty of the state to help such 
person when his needs are discovered or made known to the 
state. 

(7) Laws Relating to the Manufacture, Sale, and Consumption 
of Certain Kinds of Food. — These laws are sometimes called, 
very indefinitely, “‘sumptuary laws,” but they can scarcely 
be recognized as such except in cases where they forbid consump- 
tion. The regulation of the liquor traffic, prohibiting the 
manufacture and sale of alcoholic beverages, has for its purpose 
the restriction of consumption, and the improvement of the 
moral and social condition of the people, but is not a direct 
sumptuary law. ‘The inspection of food products, which tends 
to provide for pure foods, is not intended as a restriction on 
consumption. It seems wise for the state to regulate all matters 
of this kind which concern the health and permanent well- 
being of its citizens. 

These are some of the more important optional functions of 
the state which governments, under some form or another, have 
undertaken, but they are very far from representing all that may 
be included in this class. Yet they show conclusively that there 
is variation in the conception of what a government should do, 
and variation in the method of procedure. 

The Limits of the Powers of the State. —It would seem 
from the foregoing list of optional functions that there could 


THEORY AND FUNCTION OF THE STATE 187 


be no law regulating what should be assumed by the state and 
what should be left to private action. This can be determined 
by the public will, which follows the changing condition of the 
people and the progress of the state. Under such circumstances 
it may be safely assumed that the state may do anything which 
conduces to the highest well-being of the community. This, 
of course, is stated in a very broad way. In the United States, 
railroads, telephones, and the telegraph are owned and operated 
as private institutions, or at least by private corporations. 
Should it be deemed better for all the people that the state should 
own and manage these public utilities and the people should 
so decide, there is nothing to prevent their becoming essential 
state functions. There seems to be a tendency for the state to 
gain powers, and some think this will continue until the state 
owns and controls all the property and industries, and then we 
shall have a socialistic state. This, however, is not a necessary 
outcome of the increase in state powers, as the history of modern 
Germany shows. If in the past the state has been delinquent 
in exercising functions which legitimately belonged to it, or 
conditions have recently arisen which demand increased powers 
of the government, one need not jump to the conclusion that 
the state should own and control all industries. The growth of 
governmental functions for the social welfare corresponds very 
closely with three great developments in the complexity of our 
social life: first, the increasing complexity of population and 
social relationships; second, the development of our indus- 
trial life in scope and intricacy; third, the evolution of a 
social consciousness, a public opinion based upon considerations 
of social welfare for the whole group, roused to counteraction 
by the abuses that cluster like fungi upon an antiquated social 
order. 

The State from a Sociological Point of View. — The sociolo- 
gist is concerned with the nature and function of the state, for 
in proposing any reform, he must know what can and what can- 
not be accomplished by the government. Many reformers have 
seemed to think that all it is necessary to do is to pass a law and 
the reform will be accomplished. But thousands of laws have 
been passed which have not succeeded in accomplishing the 
intentions of their promoters. Indeed, some have been useless 
almost from the time of their passage. There are certain rec- 


188 OUTLINES OF SOCIOLOGY 


ognized normal tendencies in the development of society 
which must be considered before it can be determined what 
the state can do towards working a reform. It is found that 
acts of a state or government accomplish the purposes of their 
authors just in the proportion that the lawmakers take into 
consideration the stage of social growth reached by the people. 
There is a social mind which acts consciously, and it may change 
the affairs of the body politic; there is an individual mind which 
wills the future action of the individual, but these may both 
fail unless their choice be founded on an appreciation of the 
existing state of the social mind developed by their group. An 
example of a sociological tendency which has a practical bearing 
upon the making of laws is that law formulated by Giddings 
that a society which has few interests, but has these harmo- 
niously combined, will be conservative in its choices, while one 
which has varied interests, but which are not yet harmoniously 
combined, will be radical in its choices. It is apparent that a 
program of policies to be enacted into law which would suit the 
one situation would not suit the other. Another sociological 
law also formulated by Professor Giddings is often acted upon 
by the practical legislator. It is that social action is less likely 
to be impulsive as society gets into the habit of attaining its 
ends by indirect and complex means.1 The man who wants 
sudden action upon a proposal which will not stand the test 
of careful thought and investigation always argues the urgency 
of action. On the other hand, he who wants to defeat such a 
measure moves its reference to a committee or its postponement. 
Which method shall be adopted and what shall be the nature 
of the law proposed to meet a certain situation will depend 
largely upon the stage reached in the development of the social 
mind by a people. Moreover, what powers the state shall be 
given by the people depends much on the stage of development 
reached by the people in their collective life. If the population 
making up the state is relatively homogeneous in blood, or ideals, 
a democracy like the old New England town meeting will per- 
haps give the best results. But, let the population be made up 
of people gathered together from all parts of the world, who have 
not yet learned to know and appreciate each other’s ideals and 
customs, and the democracy of the New England. town meeting 
1 Giddings, Inductive Sociology, pp. 177-181. 


THEORY AND FUNCTION OF THE STATE 189 


becomes the tyrannical bossism of our great cities. Or, again, 
a law which will be obeyed in “ prohibition ’”’ Iowa, whose 
people have long been in America and have imbibed the Puritan 
ideals, will be broken in Wisconsin or Minnesota with their 
large foreign populations possessing other social customs and 
ideals. A republic in ignorant Mexico cannot be the same as 
in enlightened Canada or France. Sociology provides the founda- 
tions on which the political scientist may build his science of 
government, and the political philosopher his theory of the 
state. 


REFERENCES 


BuiuntTscu1l, J. K. The Theory of the State, pp. 15-75. 

LEROY-BEAULIEU. The Modern State, pp. 1-91. 

Loos, I. A. Studies in the Politics of Aristotle and the Republic of Plato. 
Mutrorp, E. The Nation, pp. 37-61, 283-320. 

ROUSSEAU, JEAN JACQUES. The Social Contract, Introd. Bk. I, Chaps. 1-8. 
WELLDON, J. E. C. The Politics of Aristotle, pp. 1-37. 

WitLoucuBy, W. W. The Nature of the State, pp. 1-141. 

Witson, Wooprow. The State, pp. 1-30. 


QUESTIONS AND EXERCISES 


1. Name and describe the two phases of the evolution of the state. 

2. Which would you examine in order to determine whether the state is 
progressing, the machinery of government, or the principles of government ? 

3. What interest has the sociologist in the theory of the state? 

4. Name and state the more important state theories. 

5. What principle of government lies at the bottom of the theory of 
government contract ? 

6. How does the social contract theory differ from that of government 
contract ? 

7. According to Rousseau, why did men enter into a social contract and 
form a government? 

8. In what stage of social evolution does the social contract appear? 

go. What are the chief defects of the social contract theory as set forth by 
Rousseau ? 

10. Criticize the theory that the state came into being with certain law- 
givers. 

11. What vicious conclusion was drawn from the assumption of the divine 
origin of the state? 

12. What is Aristotle’s theory of the origin of the state? Of the evolution 
of the state? Criticize the latter in the light of political development 
since his day. 

13. Read Aristotle’s Politics and estimate his influence on modern politi- 
cal philosophy. 


Igo OUTLINES OF SOCIOLOGY 


14. State Bluntschli’s theory of the state. What is Woodrow Wilson’s 
criticism of that theory? 

15. State the sociological theory of the origin of the state. 

16. Name the essential functions of a state. 

17. Name other optional functions of the state. What is the social 
justification of these functions? 

18. What are the sociological limitations upon the powers of the state? 

19. What is the criterion by which it should be determined whether a 
certain thing should be done by the state or by private initiative? 

20. Of what value to practical statecraft may sociology be? Why are 
some laws impossible to enforce? Give examples. 


CHAPTER IX 


THE SOCIAL PHASES OF PRODUCTION AND CON- 
SUMPTION OF WEALTH 


PERHAPS no other phase of social life shows so plainly the 
interdependence of individuals as does the production of wealth. 
Considered in its specific sense it belongs to political economy, 
but as a general social function it belongs to sociology. Here 
we need consider only the social phase of man’s economic 
activities and the sociological bases of a theory of economics. 

There are two great primal desires, the desire for food and 
the sex impulse, the one purely egoistic, the other a social 
craving. It is hard to say which of these is predominant. Some- 
times the desire for food has checked the sex impulse. But on 
the whole it is doubtful whether, except in extreme instances, 
either one has permanently controlled the other. In fact, 
until society reaches a rather advanced stage in development 
reproduction goes on even though it means the gradual lowering 
of the standard of living, as in China. So important, however, 
do the economic motives based upon a later desire for wealth 
and the social prestige become in our modern, highly complex 
civilization that there are those who believe that the economic 
life underlies all other social relations.1_ In the past the economic 
motives have played much greater part than they are likely to 
play in the future. Looking only at present-day society in 
our Western world, it often seems that the economic life under- 
lying all other phases of social life represents the formal basis 
of society. As such it manifested itself to a degree in the be- 
ginnings of society and played an important part during its 
growth and development. Our best education, our religion 

1 Proponents of this view are known as economic interpreters of history, 7.e. 
they assert that economic wants are the fundamental social forces and economic 
activities the primary social activities. Some of the more important names in this 


school of thought are Karl Marx, Loria, and Seligman. 
2Ely, The Evolution of Industrial Society, pp. 447, 448. 


IgI 


192 OUTLINES OF SOCIOLOGY 


and esthetic culture, as well as all our moral relationships, 
depend to a great extent upon the development of the economic 
life — upon the industry that creates the goods for our material 
welfare. The evolution of our economic life touches indirectly 
all the social activities. This, however, is only one aspect of 
the matter; social customs and fashions in turn determine our 
economic development. 

Economic Goods or Wealth produced to satisfy Desires. — 
There are material wants, the desire to satisfy which causes 
man to struggle perpetually. To satisfy hunger, to secure 
protection from cold, to satisfy artistic taste, to add to the 
conveniences of life, men are striving from the cradle to the 
grave, and the satisfaction of these desires is the immediate 
aim of the social group. The creation of wealth is one of the 
great activities of society. Wealth is formed by the creation 
of utilities, for man cannot create anything new, but he can 
transform useless material into useful articles. 

The tree in the forest as it stands may be of little use, but 
transformed into furniture or houses it may satisfy desires. 
The mineral in the mountains in its native form may not minister 
to man’s needs, but brought to the surface and transformed 
into instruments for man’s use, it may supply many of our 
greatest wants and therefore become useful and desirable. 
While the mineral and tree untouched by the hand of man are 
wealth, yet they are so because of their prospective utility 
through transformation into things of beauty or use. 

Slow Accumulation of Wealth. — The creation of wealth by 
primitive man was, in the beginning, a slow process. At first 
it took all his time to obtain sufficient food to perpetuate life, 
and clothing and shelter to protect him from the rigor of the 
climate. At times both food and shelter were insufficient to 
preserve life. The accumulation of wealth began with a surplus 
of food, clothing, implements, and ornaments. The increased 
food supply enabled individuals and tribes to spend more time 
in making a higher grade of implements, better homes, and en- 
larged the opportunity for the creation of wealth. 

Wealth at any stage is measured more by power of production 
than by creation of permanent goods. Indeed, what is fre- 
quently called the accumulation of wealth is a multiplication 
of resources and a development of power and opportunity for 


PRODUCTION AND CONSUMPTION OF WEALTH = 193 


the creation of wealth, rather than a massing of economic goods. 
For it will be observed that a large proportion of what is called 
wealth has been created within recent years. Not until the 
discovery and use of the precious metals was the hoarding of 
wealth or its preservation for future generations possible to 
any large extent. But the power to accumulate, once well 
started, tends to increase in a geometrical ratio. This power 
when rightly used is a measure of material progress. 

Complex Nature of Social Production.—In early times 
economic society was very simple and each individual, seeking 
his own welfare, survived or perished according to his efforts 
and opportunities or lack of them. But as common interests 
became apparent, small groups struggled together and worked 
for one another. Following this, the division of labor began, 
some procuring food and others cooking it, others building the 
home, others making garments, and still others making utensils. 
Later, trading was conducted by other groups and, finally, 
transportation by others. Thus, with the increase of work and 
wealth, society gradually became differentiated and _ resolved 
into groups working for definite purposes, the service of each 
group being necessary to the whole society. 

The final social effect was to bring those who had similar 
or nearly related occupations into closer contact and to develop 
social relationships between groups. To-day people are ar- 
ranged in social groups largely on account of their occupations. 
It is more natural for those in the same trade, whose business 
relationships are intimate, to associate, than for those who are 
widely separated, hence the basis of group formation to-day is 
industrial action. There are those engaged in the same occupa- 
tion, however, who are widely separated, so that the economic 
classification does not always agree with the general social 
grouping. Some wage earners of one community, for instance, 
have less social contact with those of other communities than 
they have with merchants of the communities in which they live. 
Yet, in the same locality intimate social relationships usually 
follow business contact. 

This point of view is essential to the study of the so-called class 
problem in the United States. The banker may have no 
enmity toward the laborer or distrust of him, nor does he re- 
frain from association with him on an assumption of superior- 

Oo 


194 OUTLINES OF SOCIOLOGY 


ity, but because of the natural social classification that appears 
from following different vocations. In general, men choose 
their associates in accordance with their economic relationships. 
And as wealth increases society becomes more or less stratified 
in accordance with the amount of wealth. The best examples 
of this tendency are found in fashionable society where individ- 
uals vie with one another in show of lavish expenditure. 

Social versus Individual Wealth.— An important social 
feature of wealth production is observed in the difference be- 
tween the aggregate of social wealth and individual holdings 
of wealth. The wealth of a community is found by adding to 
the public wealth the sum total of individual wealth. But in 
estimating social wealth care must be taken to exclude bonded 
indebtedness, and in the estimating of individual wealth credits 
must offset debits in such a way as to show the real wealth. 
Thus the promissory note is real wealth to the individual who 
holds it, but its existence does not increase the wealth of the 
community. The social inference from these facts is that the 
sum total of the wealth of a community may be an estimate of 
power, but the distribution of individual wealth is an estimate 
of social well-being. If, for instance, the wealth is in the hands 
of a few people and the remainder are struggling with oppressive 
mortgages, extortionate prices, or general poverty, the social 
character of the community is lowered. 

Importance of Well-Being. — The communities that are the 
most progressive are those that secure the most economic justice 
between individuals. Indeed, social well-being cannot exist 
when individual economic well-being is lacking. Hence a 
community that has moderate wealth that is broadly distributed 
and widely used is far better than one of far greater wealth, in 
which multitudes receive little benefit of wealth, either from 
possession or use. — 

Social well-being, then, so essential to progress, should in- 
volve an element of justice to all the individuals of a commu- 
nity. It involves an ethical as well as an economic element. 
The question of how wealth is obtained is more important than 
the bare fact of attainment. Those nations that have grown 
wealthy by plunder fare worse in the long run than those that 
grow wealthy by honest industry. Thus, the Roman nation 
declined in proportion as it discouraged home labor and lived 


PRODUCTION AND CONSUMPTION OF WEALTH = 195 


on wealth obtained by conquest. Likewise, Spain destroyed 
her own industries and her prosperity when she attempted to 
live by plundering others. Further, a nation may have earned 
its wealth by honest labor, but the estimate of its progress will 
only be determined fully by the extent to which this wealth is 
made to administer to the well-being of all. Hence it is, that 
in considering wealth-getting, one of the greatest of social or 
individual activities, one must also consider weighty questions 
of methods of production, distribution, and use, before making 
a final estimate of social well-being. 

Land or Nature as a Basis of Social Action.1— In the con- 
sideration of wealth, land or nature is the first element to be 
considered. Not only its agricultural and mineral resources 
are to be considered, but also its extent. Room for work in- 
volves the relation of the population to the land, and social 
progress will be limited by the production of the soil, for it some- 
times determines the size of population that may be supported. 
There has always been land enough for the population of the 
earth, but owing to its distribution, many districts at different 
periods of the world’s history for the time being have been 
congested or overpopulated. While a sparse population is 
not capable of a high grade of social life,a very dense population 
may lead to social degeneration. 

Theory of Malthus. — Malthus, observing the possibility 
of the rapid increase in population and the comparatively slow 
increase of the means of subsistence, asserted that unless there 
were checks on population, population would outrun the food 
supply and many would perish. He held that population tended 
to increase in geometrical progression and the best to be hoped 
for as regards food supply is arithmetical increase, hence, as a 
mathematical problem, population has a tendency to overtake 
the food supply. While the general statement is true, Malthus 
failed to give sufficient weight to certain compensatory condi- 
tions, such as intensive agriculture, which constantly increases 
the food supply per acre; the introduction of diversity of food 
products, which increases the power of nature to supply wants ; 
the better preparation of food, which gives it greater power to 
support life; the temperate habits of the people; and, more than 
all, the enormous amount of productive lands to be brought 

1See Part II, Chap. IT. 


196 OUTLINES OF SOCIOLOGY 


increasingly under cultivation. He confined his discussion 
to the natural checks, vice and misery, and to the prudential 
checks, such as late marriage and small families, which 
would tend to keep the population within the limitation of 
the food supply. 

Several considerations have been urged against Malthus’s 
conclusions. While individuals have starved for want of food, 
and whole communities have suffered depletion for the same 
cause, the world at large has plenty of food, and there seems to 
be no probability within the range of human prophecy that it 
will be exhausted. It may be conceived that a condition will 
be reached when all land will be put to its most productive 
use, and population cease to increase from lack of food supply ; 
and while such a state is, in point of fact, too remote for 
immediate consideration, yet such a_ possibility must be 
faced by the sociologist. So long as man continues to tap in 
new places the almost inexhaustible supply of nature’s resources, 
the normal increase of population will receive sufficient sup- 
port; yet, when invention ceases to keep ahead of human needs, 
as in China, the Malthusian law operates. Nor did Malthus at 
first foresee the modern tendency to restrict the size of the family 
discussed in a previous chapter. He assumed that the sex 
impulse would demand satisfaction either in normal or irregular 
relations. In the former case there would be an increase in 
population in a geometrical progression; in the latter popula- 
tion would be checked by vice. He did not make sufficient 
allowance for a check on population within normal family rela- 
tions. This defect he corrected in later editions of his Essay. 

Nevertheless, after all these optimistic considerations have 
been given due weight, it remains to be shown that the general 
conclusions at which Malthus arrived no longer are true funda- 
mentally, and that we can afford to ignore the warning they 
bring to humanity. While our ever present poverty is due 
often to social maladjustments which are socially remediable, 
at bottom poverty goes down to the pressure of population upon 
food supply, and with every increase in the population of a 
country whose other economic factors remain the same, the 
pressure of population on food supply is bound to increase. 

Labor as a Means of Wealth Production. — Other things 
being equal, the productivity of a community will be deter- 


PRODUCTION AND CONSUMPTION OF WEALTH = 197 


mined by its labor power. It will be determined first and 
foremost by its organization, then by the quantity of labor, 
that is, the number of laborers available, and still more by the 
quality of the labor force. Wherever there is a large body of 
laborers there is an opportunity for the creation of wealth such 
as does not exist in a sparse population. But the more essential 
elements are the strength, ability, zeal, happiness, intelligence, 
and physical condition of the laborers. A laboring population 
that is full of hope, thrift, happiness, and honesty will accom- 
plish a vast deal more than degraded slave labor driven by the lash. 

Again, the amount accomplished will depend upon the division 
of labor, for each laborer learning one thing well becomes more 
skilled and saves time and energy. The total laboring com- 
munity thus becomes more proficient. In addition to this the 
power of directing labor, the organization of workmen, and 
the organization of business contribute greatly to productive 
power. All these conditions affecting the productivity of labor 
are in turn affected by social institutions, such as human or- 
ganizations in the form of governments to secure peace, volun- 
tary organization to direct in the most efficient manner, to 
organize capital, labor, and land in the productive process. 

Social Effects of the Organization of Industry. — The social 
results of the division of labor and the organization of industry 
are to make people more dependent upon one another. If 
many groups of laborers are employed in making a sewing 
machine, a hat, or a coat, none of these articles can be created 
if any one of these respective groups fails to do its part. If 
forty men are employed to make a single boot, or twenty-three 
persons are engaged in making a single shirt, the work cannot go 
on if one workman drops out, unless his place can be filled. He 
is a cog in a complicated piece of machinery. Hence, in larger 
groups of society, each group is dependent upon other groups, 
each industry upon other industries. The system makes all 
members of society interdependent and makes the success of 
the whole depend upon the harmonious working of individuals 
in groups. 

Service of Capital in the Production of Wealth. — Capital 
represents surplus wealth set aside for productive use. It 
originates from saving or refraining from consuming in a cer- 
tain way, in order that what is produced may be used in produc- 


198 OUTLINES OF SOCIOLOGY 


tion. By means of capital the production of wealth is increased. 
a hundredfold. The bare labor of hands and brain without 
capital, that is, without tools, machinery, and money, or free 
capital, can yield but little more than bare subsistence, while 
with the use of capital wealth may accumulate rapidly. By 
the proper combination of labor, capital, and directive energy 
more wealth of some kinds may be created in an hour than 
formerly in a year under other conditions. 

Coincident with the use of great amounts of capital in the 
industrial life of the world are certain important social effects. 
The factory system with its class division between employers 
and employed, wage earners and entrepreneurs and capitalists, 
the class consciousness and class feeling which give us our labor 
problem, is one of the outcomes of the capitalistic régime. Cer- 
tain political effects have come also in the train of great aggre- 
gations of capital. Legislators are bought, courts sometimes 
corrupted, and the rich sometimes have held the reins of govern- 
ment to their own advantage. A new aristocracy built upon 
wealth has often risen to displace the old aristocracies of blood 
and culture. 

On the other hand, with this same capitalistic régime, there 
has come such an increase of public wealth that never as now 
has public education, free to the poor as well as to the rich, been 
supplied with such prodigal generosity. Perhaps more of the 
population of the countries industrially organized on the capi- 
talistic basis are living in conditions of comfort than in the other 
countries of the world. Step by step the wealth of these coun- 
tries is being socialized for the benefit of the whole population. 
Gradually social injustice is being corrected, conditions of labor 
improved, poverty prevented, and right living conditions 
secured. 

Sociological Effects of Changes in Processes of Social Pro- 
duction. — A finished product seldom reaches the market that 
is not the result of the combined industry of many hands and 
the work of many agencies. As new forces are brought into use, 
there is a constant changing and development of industries and 
consequently of industrial life. When the transition of hand 
manufacture to power manufacture occurred in the last half of 
the eighteenth century, the entire composition of society was 
altered. It then began to arrange itself into industrial classes. 


PRODUCTION AND CONSUMPTION OF WEALTH = 199 


This social evolution has continued with accelerated force to 
the present time. The introduction of machinery, the devel- 
opment of new appliances of steam and electricity, the inven- 
tion of new methods of business, cause a constant shifting of 
society from one form to another, and create changes in relation- 
ships. Amid these shiftings it is difficult to secure industrial 
liberty and industrial justice. Progress here, as elsewhere, is 
made at a considerable cost to individuals and frequently to 
groups. 

Sociological Causes of Changes in Economic Processes. — 
On the other hand, it is no less true that social changes are fol- 
lowed by great revolutions in methods of industrial production. 
For example, the Industrial Revolution in England was not 
only a cause of social changes; it was itself dependent on great 
changes in population and in social ideals. The old customary 
relations were breaking down; the guilds were gone. The 
Napoleonic wars were giving England control of the seas, and 
through cutting off the supply of grain from the Continent and 
other sources, had resulted in higher rents and increased inclo- 
sures through increased demands for grain. Moreover, these 
wars caused a demand on the Continent for English manufac- 
tured products which could not be supplied by the old methods. 
Under a stable government capital increased, lending and bor- 
rowing were so regulated that the entrepreneur could profit. 
Thus, a premium was put upon enterprise. Large bodies of 
raw materials were made available to British industry through 
Britain’s wide-extended merchant marine, connecting her with 
her colonies. The old methods of manufacturing and distrib- 
uting England’s goods were not adequate to meet the demands 
of the new and changed times which had come. Says Cheney, 
“ And these antiquated methods of manufacture and transpor- 
tation were all the more at variance with the needs and possi- 
bilities of the time because there had been, as already pointed 
out, a steady accumulation of capital, and much of it was not 
remuneratively employed. The time had certainly come for 
some improvement in the methods of manufacture.” ! 

Struggle of Classes. — While in the United States there are 
no classes based on noble blood and none at all as distinct as 


1 Cheney, Industrial and Social History of Iingland, New York, 1906, pp. 193- 
2006. 


200 OUTLINES OF SOCIOLOGY 


those of Europe at the close of the Middle Ages and the early 
modern period, yet as a result of the occupational division of 
,abor, people have been arranged into strata more or less per- 
manent. There is the capitalist and entrepreneur class on the 
one side and the laboring class on the other. The laboring class 
is further subdivided into the skilled and the unskilled work- 
men. However, it is still possible, on account of the opportu- 
nities offered, for the individual to pass from one group to an- 
other and from the conditions of poverty to a condition of 
wealth. The common laborer of to-day may pass to the rank 
of capitalist and manager of business to-morrow. The forms 
of social stratification may continue, but the individuals who 
compose the groups are constantly shifting in their relationships. 
Those who actually do pass from one class to the other are grow- 
ing constantly less, relatively, in number. With the growth 
of industrial classes there is an increasing solidification of the 
groups and less opportunity to move from one to the other. 
While this industrial liberty and freedom is increasingly limited 
by lack of opportunity, still the so-called struggle of classes 
leaves the exceptional individual his freedom. Whether this 
will continue after labor has been completely organized and 
industry is entirely managed by great corporate concerns will 
depend upon the harmony of the parts of society in a common 
cause, and upon the regulation of laws securing industrial liberty 
to the individual. For the perfection of the social machinery 
the well-being of all classes must be considered. Social jus- 
tice must be manifest in the economic as well as the political 
world. 

Social Consumption. — Production has been much more 
thoroughly socialized than the consumption of goods, although 
much still remains to be done to make the productive processes, 
especially in so far as human relations are involved in them, such 
as will contribute as largely as possible to the welfare of all 
classes engaged in industry. The social aspects of the con- 
sumption of goods, however, have received very little atten- 
tion. In fact, there prevail many erroneous opinions concern- 
ing the proper use of economic goods. It is still quite widely 
held that consumption of goods which gives work to Labor or 
employment to Capital must be commendable, no matter 
whether the use of the goods makes for human betterment or 


PRODUCTION AND CONSUMPTION OF WEALTH 201 
otherwise. ‘“‘ Conspicuous waste”’ and “‘ conspicuous leisure ” 
are still approved in theory even by most of those who enjoy 
the privilege of neither. 

The desires of individuals are the motors of progress. The 
production of material goods will cease when the desire for con- 
sumption fails. While the act of production logically precedes 
that of consumption, the unsatisfied desire for the latter is the 
real cause of the former. For the subjective desire of man is 
the real foundation of economic activity. So important is this 
phase of social life that the progress of the human race might 
be estimated by the number, variety, and intensity of desires. 
The full determination of this progress will not be reached 
until the extent of the satisfaction of these desires is measured. 
For, as Ward says, “ Not only does civilization rest upon a 
material basis in the sense that it consists in the utilization of 
the materials and forces of nature, but the efficiency of the 
human race depends absolutely upon food, clothing, shelter, 
fuel, leisure, and liberty.”! But the index of this efficiency is 
subjective, for it is only in the satisfaction of desires that man 
will put forth the effort necessary for the attainment of the 
objects that make efficiency possible. 

It must not be forgotten, however, that the desires which 
move men to activity— even to economic activity — are 
not economic alone in their nature. The economic motives are 
very much strengthened and supplemented by other social 
desires. The desires for art, religion, approbation, liberty, 
justice, and social standing, and so forth, excite individual and 
social activity and establish social relations. If we compare a 
natural with a civilized race, the variety and character of the 
desires will in the latter make a striking contrast with the few 
simple desires of the former. As a race progresses the gradual 
changing of old desires and the creation of new desires will 
mark the evolution of society. It is because of this evolution 
of desire that the ideals of society constantly change. The end- 
less attempt to approximate these receding ideals is only con- 
tinued by a tremendous increase of individual and social effort. 

Economy of Consumption.—In considering the well-being 
of society, the consumption of material goods is of great moment. 
Granting that the ideal is correct, and that the desires are cul- 

1 Pure Sociology, p. 289. 


202 OUTLINES OF SOCIOLOGY 


tivated and rational, the art of consumption is difficult to acquire. 
Few people know how to obtain the highest utility from mate- 
rial goods. The economy of consumption is usually deficient 
in individuals as well as in the community at large. How many 
material goods are wasted through imperfect consumption! 
Individuals are made bankrupt and society enervated through 
failure to utilize what is already possessed. How evident this 
is among the poor and ignorant! Thousands lose money, even 
to the slavery of poverty, because they do not understand and 
practice the art of economy. Leisure and independence might 
be theirs if they could utilize even what they have. This prin- 
ciple could be applied to society to show how public funds are 
wasted, and the community oppressed thereby, or to show how 
the lack of economy of social forces creates an imperfect social 
life and a waste of energy. Society at best is a very inefficient 
consumer of material goods. Social consumption lags far be- 
hind social production. The standard of life should be raised 
instead of lowered, and the rational desires should be multi- 
plied. But useless expenditure, which brings no permanent 
improvement, and injurious expenditure, which deteriorates the 
individual or society, should be eliminated. Excessive food for 
the body, intoxicating beverages or certain drugs and narcotics 
are examples of waste and injury. : 

These things are mentioned here only to point the social ob- 
servation that consumption, like production, is the result of 
social motives. It is subject to social control, therefore, and 
depends on social ideals. The present wasteful consumption 
of goods is due in large measure to certain social results desired, 
such as prestige, and the envy and emulation of one’s fellows. 
On the other hand, such consumption has certain social conse- 
quences which do not contribute to social well-being. Standards 
are set which some cannot reach, social classes are formed which 
cut through our population and tend to destroy democracy. 
Often the advantages derived from the social striving thereby 
engendered are more than counterblanced by the destruction 
of that sense of social solidarity which is the foundation of social 
codperation. 

Luxury. — Wasteful consumption, however, does not char- 
acterize only the poorer classes. The rich are as wasteful and 
unsocialized in their consumption as the poor. ‘“ Conspicuous 


PRODUCTION AND CONSUMPTION OF WEALTH = 203 


waste ” for the purpose of increasing other people’s estimate of 
one’s social status is a principle common to both. Luxury is 
a relative term as applied to individuals of a community or 
to communities of different periods of time. What may be 
considered a luxury to one individual may be a necessity to 
another, and what is a luxury to one age may be requisite to 
the normal life of another. Yet society is very imperfect in its 
codrdination when one part suffers for necessaries and another 
is engaging in lavish expenditure. ‘There must be a social waste 
when, in the shadow of extravagant dinners, balls, and riotous 
living, a large part of the community is suffering for the comforts 
of life, some even to starvation, and are deprived of normal 
chances for individual or social development. Under such 
conditions it is idle to urge that lavish expenditure increases 
a demand for goods and furnishes occupation for many. The 
ravages of pestilence, fire, and wasteful consumption are in the 
same economic and social category so far as their destructive 
effect on society is concerned. The consumption of wealth and 
the exercise of power must yield a result proportionate to the 
sacrifice, in order to conserve the interests of society. 

It can be easily demonstrated that the use of some things is 
wasteful as compared with the use of other things. For example, 
let us suppose that a certain person in order to display his wealth 
and thus increase his social prestige decides to give a ball. He 
decides that he will spend, let us say, $100,000 on flowers. The 
florists will get the $100,000... Part of that amount will remain 
with the florists as profits. A part will go to the owner of the 
land on which they were raised, as rent, some of it will be paid 
by the florists to money lenders as interest on the capital in- 
vested and a part,— perhaps the largest portion, — will be 
paid to laborers as wages. The host and his guests are given 
pleasure by the beauty and perfume of the flowers. The host 
probably enjoys an enhanced reputation and standing among 
those whom he wishes to impress with his wealth. It is his 
money he spends; who shall say that since he makes oppor- 
tunity for labor as well as providing pleasure for his guests and 
a reputation for splendid prodigality for himself, that his expen- 
diture is not the best for society he could make? 

Let us cast up the account briefly. Suppose that the follow- 
ing sums were received by the producers: 


204 OUTLINES OF SOCIOLOGY 


Capitalists’ interest POA A SU Sh) i Ka siotere 
Landowners! renting). yu ei ee deh aeons 7,000 
Entrepreneiteyprontyiys) ca) tie ans ae 15,000 
Laboretsn Wacesiy fi. ulin tecis | ioeareueterly o Nie 68,000 

Total erg Me biel Lin tit ils ath ee Rey PR LEE LOO. 000 


Let us suppose that this person instead of spending his money 
on flowers invested it in an industry, let us say, the shoe or the 
milling industry, where there was just as great returns to each 
of the productive classes as in the case of the florists. Then 
from the side of production there will occur the distribution of 
the $100,000 just as above. After the evening’s ball in the case 
of the flowers, they have served their purpose. After a week at 
the most, the last possibility of their pleasing has been exhausted. 
They are withered and positively ugly. In the case of the shoes 
or flour produced by the other method of spending the money 
their usefulness has just begun. Moreover, the shoes increase 
the economic efficiency of the consumers who bought them. It 
is possible that the flowers also contribute something to the 
economic or social efficiency of those who enjoy them. But, 
as providing socially marginal satisfactions, it is at least doubt- 
ful whether they were productive of as much economic or social 
good to the consumers and to society in general as the flour or 
the shoes. By socially marginal satisfactions, is meant those 
which are not only less imperative to the individual users of 
the goods, but are less necessary to the well-being of society con- 
sidered as a whole, — workers and capitalists, consumers of a 
more fundamentally necessary class of goods as well as consum- 
ers of luxuries. As a good which is less necessary to the pro- 
ductivity of an individual than another good may be called a 
socially unnecessary good to that individual, so a good or class 
of goods which contributes less than another to the economic 
efficiency of society as a whole may be socially unnecessary to 
that group of individuals or classes called society. Luxuries 
are socially marginal goods when they contribute less to social 
well-being than necessaries. From the standpoint of society 
these goods are luxuries which are not so necessary as others to 
the well-being of society as a whole, — society conceived of as 
including the working classes as well as the monied classes. 
So long, therefore, as a class of society is suffering from the want 


PRODUCTION AND CONSUMPTION OF WEALTH 205 


of such goods as will enable that class to increase its efficiency 
and the well-being of society as a whole, there is no social justi- 
fication of the consumption of goods which contributes less to 
the well-being of the whole social group. 


REFERENCES 


ANDERSON, B. M. Social Value. 

BLAckmMAR, F. W. Economics, pp. 61-130. 

BucHER, Cart. Industrial Evolution, pp. 1-83 (translated by Wickett). 

DE Greer, G. Introduction dla Sociologie, Part II, p. 96. 

Ety, R. T. Evolution of Industrial Society, pp. 1-84. 

Ey, R. T. Outlines of Economics, Chap. VIII. 

FETTER, FRANK. Principles of Economics, Revised Edition, 1910, Chaps. 
38-40. 

SPENCER, HERBERT. Principles of Sociology, Vol. Il, pp. 327-377. 

Warp, Lester F. Dynamic Sociology, Vol. I, p. 561. 


QUESTIONS AND EXERCISES 


1. Show that certain economic desires have a social, psychological base. 

2. Criticize the conception that economics underlie all social activity. 

3. Name some social conditions which have made it possible to accumulate 
wealth more rapidly recently than in the earlier stages of civilization. 

4. Show that production is increasingly a social matter. 

5. What is the difference between individual wealth and social wealth ? 

6. Show what social conditions effect an increase in the value of, let us say, 
an acre of ground; a ton of iron ore. 

7. State Malthus’s theory of population. In what respects does it hold 
true to-day? In what respects is it erroneous? 

8. What economic facts did Malthus neglect in his theory? What 
changes in social attitudes in modern times have affected the Malthusian 
theory? 

9o- Name three important sociological effects of changes in the processes 
of production. 

10. Name two important economic effects of changes in social customs 
and social ideals. 

11. Show how consumption is a social matter. 

12. State the arguments to show that luxuries for the few are not socially 
justifiable so long as there are lacking necessaries for the many. 

13. Analyze economically and socially the consequences of the expendi- 
ture by an individual of $100,o00 on a supper for four hundred guests from 
the fashionable society of a great city. 


CHAPTER X 
EXCHANGE AS A SOCIAL FUNCTION 


Social Importance of Exchange. — In the short run contact 
may mean conflict. Ultimately, however, contact leads to 
acquaintance, which is the first step towards tolerance and co- 
operation. Anything, therefore, which increases the number 
of human contacts in the long run increases sociability and 
friendliness. This is especially true of contacts which have 
for their avowed purpose the advantage of each person. Ex- 
change between different individuals in the same group and 
between different groups is carried on because all concerned 
believe that the exchange of articles is mutually of advantage. 
The primitive social motives are here supplemented by the 
economic. 

Moreover, an important phase of wealth production, of far- 
reaching social consequences, is the exchange of commodities. 
The method of exchange is an indication of the stage of social 
development reached by a society. It is the beginning of a 
division of labor and is a means of the creation of wealth. In 
an exchange each party concerned gets something which he 
values more highly than that which he exchanged for it. For 
example, when I exchange an arrowhead for a moccasin, it is 
because I value the latter more highly than the former. He 
with whom I made the exchange evidently valued the arrow- 
head more highly than the moccasin, else he would not have 
parted with the latter for my arrowhead. Both of us are bene- 
fited by the exchange. Beginning in a small way, in the form 
of barter, exchange has expanded with the growth of industry 
to the present credit system. Its formal beginning was in the 
trading of surplus goods of a given kind for more desirable goods 
of another kind or, as it has been stated, “ the exchanging of 
the relatively superfluous for the relatively necessary.” In 
primitive society different articles of food, of wearing apparel, 
and of implements were bartered. This method continued 

206 


EXCHANGE AS A SOCIAL FUNCTION 207 


with all property until money was invented as a medium of 
exchange. 

Social Effects of Exchange. — What concerns us most here 
are the social effects of exchange, for primarily it permits diver- 
sified industries. It allows each individual to follow a given 
occupation or to engage in the creation of a single commodity. 
Thus, a farmer can spend his energy in raising wheat, and, after 
saving enough of the product to supply his own needs, may ex- 
change the rest for other kinds of food, clothing, implements, 
and furniture. He does this in modern times by the use of 
money, that is, he sells the wheat and with the money obtained 
from it he buys the other necessary articles. This permits 
him to follow a single pursuit with efficiency. 

But exchange has a greater social function, — that of the 
development of social intercourse between individuals, groups, 
territories, and nations. ‘This intercourse has much to do with 
the socialization of groups. It brings diversified food, adding 
many articles to the food supply and thus it increases the power 
to support life. Intercourse adds likewise to variety of cloth- 
ing, making all means of protection and adornment of the body 
supplied by nature and art available to each community. This 
conduces to the comfort of the race and contributes another 
element of emulation between individuals. Moreover, exchange 
permits adaptability of different clothing to requirements of 
occupation and climate, thus increasing man’s working capacity. 
Arts such as primitive methods of working stone and metals 
are thus disseminated throughout wide areas. For example, 
through barter between Indian tribes in America Lake Superior 
copper articles were found as far south as Florida and pipes 
made from the pipestone of southwestern Minnesota are found 
scattered throughout the Mississippi Valley. 

Still more important, though less observable, is exchange of 
ideas, which always follows exchange of material things. Com- 
merce has always been a great stimulus to intellectual develop- 
ment. Ideas of social life and education are easily transferred 
from community to community and from nation to nation 
through the interchange of goods. The thoroughfares of com- 
merce have always been highways of learning and courses of 
intellectual development and means of distributing inventions 
to the world. The caravans of the Orient brought ideas of cul- 


208 OUTLINES OF SOCIOLOGY 


ture from the East and disseminated them wherever their lines 
of travel passed. The Phoenicians, in their attempts to carry 
on commerce, brought to the Western world the practical arts 
of Asia. Perhaps no more striking example of the influence of 
commerce on ideas is known than the trade of the Italian cities 
with the Eastern countries. Like unto it was the influence of 
the Hanseatic League which extended trade to northern Europe. 

The moral and religious influences of nations are extended 
through the channels of commerce. Indeed, sometimes this 
means is more effective in introducing new customs than that of 
direct missionary effort. The habits and customs of one people 
are taken up by another almost unconsciously as they communi- 
cate and intermingle through trade. This is especially notice- 
able in the spread of immoral practices. Ethical religion, on 
the other hand, is much more slowly imitated, yet commerce 
furnishes a great opportunity for its propagation. How impor- 
tant commerce may be in supplying means whereby religious 
ideas and practices are spread may be seen by a study of the 
spread of the Christian religion in the first few centuries of its 
history throughout the Roman Empire. The traveling Chris- 
tian artisan and peddler were the most numerous and successful 
early missionaries if we may trust the historians.! But religious 
doctrines alone will not develop civilization. If not followed by 
opening up the nations to trade and communication with civil- 
ized nations, little progress will be made. This is as true with 
reference to missionary effort to-day in Asia and Africa as it 
was in the Roman Empire in the first Christian centuries. Mis- 
slonaries have discovered that they must teach the arts of 
civilization if they are to dispose of pagan religions and that these 
arts must be followed by intercommunication with the civil- 
izations of the world. All the missionary efforts in China will 
be of little avail if that nation refuses the arts of civilized life 
and closes her ports to the civilized nations of the world. Other- 
wise the hydra of paganism will perpetually grow and recreate 
itself, overwhelming and destroying the milder influences of the 
Gospel. In accordance with this principle, railways and other 
highways of trade will be the best instructors of the inhabitants 
of the Philippines in the arts of civil life. 

But trade also develops, on the one hand, thrift, and, on the 

1 Harnack, Expansion of Christianity, New York, 1904, Vol. I, p. 460. 


EXCHANGE AS A SOCIAL FUNCTION 209 


other, cupidity and avarice, for in a primitive land, where people 
have a surplus of one kind of goods and no means of exchange, 
there is no value attached to the goods and hence there can be 
no desire to accumulate or preserve. How often this has been 
illustrated by the growing of fruits and agricultural products in 
the development of the West. Ofttimes without a market, 
products of the soil have been rendered comparatively unde- 
sirable. With increased demand for articles created by the 
development of exchange, however, comes a desire for accumu- 
lation. This change in man’s estimate of the value of things 
has, however, its good side. Out of the desire for better things, 
out of the emulation between people in the same community 
grows culture as well as jealousy and strife, new uses of wealth 
as well as miserliness. 

While tribal and national warfare has risen on account of 
dissensions, jealousies, and desires for supremacy, conquest for 
plunder has been an ever potent cause of war. Indeed, warfare 
among civilized nations has seldom occurred without the desire 
to increase wealth in some form. ‘The history of the Hebrews 
records the conquest and the despoiling of the enemy. The 
Oriental despots in their warfare encouraged the work of plun- 
der and robbery. Even the Roman Empire in its conquests of 
foreign nations never lost sight of the wealth that was to be 
obtained by conquest, though it valued above all the glory of 
victory. Desire for wealth is often the cause of war to-day. 

On the other hand, increasingly of late years the wish of the 
merchant and manufacturing classes of our Western countries 
has had an important bearing on the peace movement. For 
example, while some business men are desirous of war to protect 
their interests in Mexico at the present time, the great mass of 
the American people engaged in business are earnestly hoping 
that there may be no war. They realize by sad experience that 
war means the blocking of many of the regular avenues of 
trade. War results in the impairment of confidence in business 
conditions. It means loss of prospective profits. Moreover, 
increasingly the business men of all nations, except that class 
which is immediately interested in the production of munitions 
of war or any class which may see a gain for their immediate 
interests, keenly realize that the business of the nation must 
bear the brunt of the cost of the war. 

P 


210 OUTLINES OF SOCIOLOGY 


Effects of Social Progress upon Methods of Exchange. — 
No less important than the effects of exchange upon social prog- 
ress are the results of changes in society upon the methods and 
ethics of exchange. With the growth of complexity in the social 
structure the methods of exchange are altered. The simple 
exchange of various communities gives way to the intermedia- 
tion of a fixed market under rigid rules and customs, as illus- 
trated in the medieval markets and fairs. With the develop- 
ment of a social consciousness and unity of feelings and purposes 
there comes confidence and the use of a common commodity as 
a medium of exchange, or money, and later the whole system of 
credit exchange. 

Moreover, what began as presents to hostile groups for some 
ulterior advantage becomes with the growth of a code of morals 
and a sense of social obligations first a battle of wits and cunning 
and then an exchange for the advantage of both. In modern 
times a great change in the ethics of exchange has come about. 
In contrast with the medieval practices business ethics not 
so long ago began to frown upon misrepresentation of goods in 
the efforts to dispose of them, but left untouched the question 
of whether it was right to defraud the corporation or the for- 
eigner. Then succeeded the policy of selling or trading a com- 
modity upon its appearances. The horse was taken at his 
apparent value, the suit of clothes upon what it seemed to the 
buyer to be actually worth. Then there grew up the practice 
of merchants offering only the best goods, goods which they 
could personally recommend and guarantee, or else different 
grades, but with the difference in value made clear to the pro- 
spective purchaser. Once to profit by juggling the affairs of a 
corporation was not questioned; to steal a railway was a gentle- 
man’s business. To defraud the common people was the sign 
of business greatness. ‘There has begun to grow up in our West- 
ern countries an abhorrence of graft. It has come to con- 
sciousness as the interrelations of our common social life have 
developed. Only as we have come to appreciate that ‘“‘ we are 
members one of another,” and that if ‘‘one member suffers, all 
the members suffer with it’’ has there grown up a reaction 
against the plundering of others in devious and surreptitious 
ways. Within the last few years there has risen a belief that 
the man or combination of men who get control of the public 


EXCHANGE AS A SOCIAL FUNCTION 211 


streets for their own profit and without just compensation to 
the public, who ‘“ milk ” a railway, who grab the public domain 
for the exploitation of the people and for the private advantage 
of this man or set of men are as bad as the man who sells at 
short weight or by short measure, as the farmer who put the 
spoiled potatoes in the middle of the sack, the small apples in 
the middle of the barrel, the musty hay in the center of the 
load, or the merchant who sells inferior goods by misrepresen- 
tation. The term “thief” has come to be applied to the man who 
gets control of water power, mineral resources, and franchise 
rights without due regard for the rights of the public almost as 
frequently as to him who steals a horse. This has come about 
partly because of economic reasons. It has been shown to be 
“poor business ” to deceive. But supplementary to that mo- 
tive for better business ethics is the ethical impulse and the 
social feeling of solidarity, as well as the dread of social repro- 
bation, — a dread by no means of the least importance in influ- 
encing people to an ethical course of action. 

The Use of Money to Facilitate Exchange. — Barter of com- 
modities was an imperfect method of exchange before the use 
of money as a medium. Although the early forms of money 
were very crude and imperfect and the method of using it was 
but little above the old forms of barter, still, by degrees the sys- 
tem became perfected and money as an instrument of exchange 
greatly facilitated not only the accumulation of wealth, but also 
the progress of civilization. Instead of exchanging articles of 
all kinds, one well-known article, the value of which was well 
determined, was used to express the values of every other article. 
In the hunter-fisher stage cattle were used as money, and all 
values measured in terms of an ox or a part of an ox. Savage 
tribes have used shells or trinkets which became universally 
desirable. In the agricultural period frequently grains were 
used as a measure of value, but more and more people began to 
rely on metals as a medium of exchange. At first the baser 
metals were used, such as lead, iron, and copper; but, finally, 
on account of their durability and universality, gold and silver 
became the chief money metals. The law of the creation of 
money is that an article must be, first, desirable, and, second, 
well known in the community where it is to be used, before it 
can become money. Then out of all the desirable and univer- 


212 OUTLINES OF SOCIOLOGY 


sally known articles those which are the most adaptable to the 
storage of value, those which are durable, easily divisible, port- 
able, and not easily counterfeited, are chosen. They are not 
chosen by the order of kings or governors so much as by the 
consensus of normal use. 

While money rapidly increased the progress in civil arts, it 
too, finally became too clumsy for use in the larger transactions 
of exchange. Then the credit system came into use and by 
means of it transactions could be made so easily as to transform 
the processes of trade and industry. The invention of credit 
was to trade and commerce what the inventions of steam and 
electricity were to the development of the industrial arts. 
Credit is the perfect machine of exchange. By its introduction 
the methods of doing business were greatly changed, and conse- 
quently the habits of society were likewise influenced. 

These developments in the methods of exchange are cited 
here because they are made possible by the development of 
social unity and because they have greatly modified the organ- 
ization and grouping of society. They have had vast influence 
on social order and social activities. Credit instruments could 
not displace money until society had developed its organization 
to the point where men had confidence in each other. Credit 
is based upon belief in one’s fellows. Confidence is a social 
creation. It is inspired by acquaintance with others, by the 
multiplication of social bonds making strangers known to each 
other and making it next to impossible, because unprofitable and 
undesirable, to be dishonest. With the growth of social organ- 
ization and the multiplication of social bonds in ever widening 
reaches confidence in fellow-men was inspired and credit instru- 
ments became possible. 

The Rise of Industrial Classes of Traders.— Many new 
groups of society have been formed on account of the practice 
of exchange; the first of these were merchants or traders. Occu- 
pational division of labor with all its benefits was given a power- 
ful impetus. While in primitive society individuals might bar- 
ter goods with each other personally, as society became more 
complex through the division of labor it became necessary for 
some one to act as an agent between those who were exchang- 
ing goods, that is, between the buyer and seller. First, as a 
mere peddler he bought certain lines of goods which he ex- 


EXCHANGE AS A SOCIAL FUNCTION 213 


changed for other lines which were finally sold in the market 
for money. Later, great trading stations were established for 
the distribution of all kinds of goods and, finally, the great sys- 
tem of stores and storehouses has been developed, and with it 
the great army of tradespeople. The differentiation of this 
group becomes more marked each succeeding year as its services 
became more essential. Many shiftings of this group in mod- 
ern life are constantly occurring. At present we have the 
manufacturers of goods as a separate class, the retailers as a 
third, and, finally, the commercial travelers and agents who 
serve the larger wholesale houses and form a distinct group of 
people. In recent years, owing to the increased confidence 
people have developed in our American society with the growth 
of easy communication and the waxing consciousness of social 
unity, there has been growing up a tendency for the manu- 
facturer to sell his own goods directly to the consumer through 
the agency of the mails. In this way a close relation is brought 
about between the producer and the consumer. But even under 
the most favorable circumstances it is impossible to eliminate 
the intermediary groups. The social influence of the personal 
presentation of the merits of a good is still too ue for the 
economic desire for gain. 

Another group of people arising on account of exchange are 
the bankers and commercial agents who facilitate the transac- 
tions of business. They furnish the ready money and the credit 
for carrying on trade and commerce. They represent the 
nervous system of the industrial world, and as such they have 
become essential to the modern methods of exchange, for just 
as the traders and merchants handle goods so they handle 
moneys and credits. 

Extensive Exchange Dependent upon Transport. — As arti- 
cles of goods which are to be exchanged cannot all be produced 
in the same neighborhood or, indeed, in the same country, it 
becomes necessary to establish some means of transport before 
trading on any large scale can exist. Among primitive people 
the individual trader travels from tribe to tribe carrying his 
trinkets with him. In the trade of the Orient, great caravans 
were first used, by means of which goods were transported on 
the backs of camels from one country to another. After the 
introduction of navigation, goods were transported in ships 


214 OUTLINES OF SOCIOLOGY 


across seas, along rivers, and over the ocean to different coun- 
tries. Here a new social group of transporters came into 
existence, and as it became necessary to market the surplus 
goods in foreign countries the carriers represented a separate 
social and commercial group. Where there were no means of 
water communication, canals were built to carry goods through 
inland countries. The building of roads and highways also 
became necessary as a means of transporting goods for people. 
In modern life the great steamship companies formed for carry- 
ing people and goods across the ocean, and the great railway 
companies which transfer millions of persons and millions of 
tons of freight each year across the Continent represent the 
highest development of transport groups. 

Perhaps there is no better illustration of the development of 
an economic social group than in the comparatively recent rise 
of the railway systems of the world. Here are great organized 
groups engaged in a specific work of carrying freight and human 
beings from one place to another. So essential has the railway 
system of the nation become, that should they cease to operate 
for ten days, business would stagnate. Cut off railway com- 
munication from one of our large cities, and in thirty days 
people would starve for want of the necessaries of life. Not 
only has the transport system become essential to business and 
life, but it represents one of the most compact and well-organized 
social groups. A market is impossible on any extensive scale, 
such as we have in our large cities, without such a system. 

Advertising and Exchange.— No matter how perfect the 
transport system may be, exchange depends also on that im- 
portant socio-economic instrument, advertising. The freight 
rates may be so low that they will not pay the actual cost of 
transporting the goods, and yet because the goods have not 
been brought to the attention of people there may be no exchange. 
A sufficiently strong demand must be created for the goods that 
people will pay the price necessary to secure their transpor- 
tation to the place of exchange. Advertising creates a demand. 
It stirs the curiosity of people as to the goods advertised, and 
makes them see real or imagined merits in that particular con- 
sumption good. People thus get into the habit of using it, 
they are imitated by others, and thus the circle of demand 
widens, creating the fundamental basis for a market and ex- 


EXCHANGE AS A SOCIAL FUNCTION 215 


change of commodities — desire for the goods — sufficiently 
intense to compete successfully in the judgment hall of the 
mind for first choice. 

The Improvement of Social Organization. — But on account 
of the increased diversity of life, there is great need of improved 
industrial and political methods. That is, the organization 
must become articulated as society becomes more complex. 
As a great and complicated machine may depend upon the 
service of one little cog, so the complex organization of society 
will depend for its successful operation upon one part or group 
of people, and just as the clumsy machinery of the past must be 
perpetually abandoned for better models, so the machinery of 
social order must continue to improve if it is to bear well the 
extra burdens of society which it assumes. If, for instance, a 
group of people undertakes to furnish the coal necessary for 
the fuel of a nation, they must not fail, or manufactures will 
cease and people will freeze and starve. If a group undertakes 
to furnish the agricultural products necessary for the support 
of the nation, it will not do for them to remain idle for a year, 
otherwise the people will perish. If the railways and _ their 
employees have difficulties which result in cessation of traffic, 
some method whereby such interruptions shall cease must be 
devised in the interest of the people who depend on transporta- 
tion for their existence and comfort. No Jaissez-faire theory 
can be allowed to stand in the way of social interference for the 
benefit of the public. Social organization must be devised to 
adjust such difficulties. Railway rates and service, control of 
natural resources like coal, oil, gas, and water are quasi public 
matters. Social arrangements must be made which will pro- 
tect the consumers of these products. If railway rates are such 
that the products of one part of the country, such as apples, for 
example, rot in the fields or on the trees, while in another part 
there are other products, for instance grain, which can hardly 
be given away in that locality, it is evident that there is mal- 
adjustment either in freight rates on those commodities, or the 
advertising agencies and methods have not yet created a desire 
intense enough in consumers to create an effective demand 
for them. More than this, there must be perfection of the 
social machinery within the group. That is, if a company 
undertakes to furnish artificial light for a community and 


216 OUTLINES OF SOCIOLOGY 


through the imperfection of their manufacturing plant, or 
through the imperfect method of administration they fail to 
furnish light at a reasonable rate, the people will devise other 
methods. These are illustrations of the integration of society 
which must work simultaneously with differentiation, otherwise 
the social organization becomes defective and unwieldy. 

Likewise the political machinery must continue to improve 
or antiquated methods of administration and laws would in- 
terfere with the progress of social and industrial life. The 
political life exists for the protection of all classes and groups of 
people. Should it fail to give protection or promote harmony 
of interests, it would seriously interfere with the production 
and distribution of wealth, and consequently with social order 
and social progress. For instance, the regulation of the gov- 
ernment respecting the tariff may interfere with industries to 
such an extent as to prevent the normal industrial progress of 
the people. It is possible, also, for a nation to make arbitrary 
rulings or to neglect to make regulations in regard to the use of 
money and the regulation of trade to the detriment of normal 
progress. 

Approved Modes of Acquiring Wealth.— In the improve- 
ment of the industrial system certain established modes for 
acquiring wealth are considered normal. Among these may 
be enumerated the discovery of desirable articles, the adapta- 
tion of land to various services, the transformation of products 
of nature into useful articles, and, in fact, the furnishing of any 
desirable article obtained by legitimate effort, or by value given 
on account of service rendered. All society is organized to the 
end of mutual service, and he who performs a given service 
without interfering with the rights of his fellows is entitled to 
the reward of such service. It is only through this means of 
normal service that people should become wealthy. 

Disapproved Modes of Acquiring Wealth. — In this connec- 
tion it may be important to mention several anti-social modes 
of acquisition. Among these, gambling, robbery, theft, certain 
forms of speculation, the exploitation of the weak, catering to 
vicious cravings, fraudulent bankruptcy, and class legislation 
may be enumerated. In each instance the object is to obtain 
that which belongs to others by illegitimate means, that is, 
without returning any service or value in exchange. 


EXCHANGE AS A SOCIAL FUNCTION 217 


The robber who breaks into a house is not intending to in- 
crease the wealth or well-being of a community, but merely 
to get, by foul means, a share of the wealth already created. 
When two men play at the gaming table and one wins, the wealth 
of the community is neither increased nor diminished, nor is the 
community in any way served by the transaction. The men 
are not only non-producers in the transaction of gambling, but 
each is trying to take from the other what he possesses without 
giving anything in return. When speculation is carried beyond 
a certain limit, it is upon the same moral and economic basis as 
gambling or robbery. It seeks to exploit humanity and obtain 
by chance or foresight a portion of the wealth already created, 
without giving any return in value or service. When legisla- 
tion is influenced to build a railway in a certain direction to 
benefit a few persons at the expense of many, or when the city 
council is influenced to perform a service for one at the expense 
of others, the general public is not served; it is exploited. In 
such cases the people’s money is used for the benefit of a few. 
It is like collecting money from each of a group of individuals 
and giving it to one without any return. 

Such methods are common where the political world first 
comes in contact with the industrial and confuses it. The 
perfect adjustment of society will eliminate them. ‘This is one 
of the difficulties of modern society, for while it is generally 
conceded that political and civil government should be carried 
on for the mutual benefit of all members of society, the theory 
that a man has a right to accumulate and use wealth as he 
pleases, regardless of the well-being of others, has permitted 
the perpetuation of ancient forms of piracy and brigandage 
under new forms of industrial life, which men excuse by calling 
them “ business.”’ Or, to take a more debatable example, a 
man or company buys up lands and does nothing but hold them 
until society by creating a demand for the products and serv- 
ices of these lands greatly increases their value. It must not 
be forgotten, of course, that by holding the lands from a period 
when they are only slightly in demand to a time when they 
are more in demand the speculator has given to them what is 
known in Economics as “ time utility.”” That is, he has invested 
his money in them and is entitled to interest on that money. 
He took some risk, moreover, when he bought what no one else 


218 OUTLINES OF SOCIOLOGY 


wanted, and therefore is entitled to a speculative profit for 
having taken that risk for the sake of society. In order that 
people should be induced to take such risks, the man who fore- 
sees what is going to happen must be more liberally rewarded 
than he who takes very little risk. However, after all these 
legitimate allowances are made, it is a question whether the 
unearned increment obtained by speculative investors should 
go to the investor entirely. Should not society which has 
created the value take a part of that increase in value? 
The same question arises with respect to other natural resources 
such as water power, timber, and mineral resources. 

A similar principle is in question in the case of so-called “‘ high 
finance’ as seen in the manipulation of railway and industrial 
stocks and bonds by individuals who are shuffling the cards for 
their own advantage at the expense of the legitimate investor 
and of the public. The promoter and reorganizer undoubtedly 
are entitled to a rather large return for their services in bringing 
together capital for legitimate enterprises when the money is 
honestly used in industrial production. They are not, however, 
entitled to use such an opportunity to “ milk”’ the enterprise 
for the benefit of the insiders and to the detriment of the stock- 
holders and the public dependent on that enterprise for their 
welfare. Public policy is against such a procedure, and the laws 
should make it impossible. That society has tolerated such anti- 
social policies is due partly to ignorance of the public concern- 
ing the evil, and partly to the indifference characteristic of 
American life concerning large public policies which involve the 
whole people of the United States and partly to the dominance 
of the economic doctrine of laissez faire. The investigations 
which have been or are being carried on by the various states and 
the Federal government will dissipate the ignorance. Ameri- 
can provincial indifference to national problems will disappear 
with the progress of social unification of the population of our 
large territory. A new theory of economics is rapidly displac- 
ing the old classical system, and when finally completed will 
be found to be an economics shot through and through with the 
social idea that economic conditions can be altered by human 
endeavor. 


EXCHANGE AS A SOCIAL FUNCTION 219 


REFERENCES 


De Greer, G. Introduction a la Sociologie, Part II, p. 39. 

Ey, R. T. Outlines of Economics, Rev. Ed., 1908, Chaps. XI, XII, XX VI. 

FETTER, FRANK A. Principles of Economics, Rev. Ed., 1910, pp. 1-40, 
Chaps. XIII, XIV, XXXI, XXXITII, XXXVI, XXXIX. 

SCHAEFFLE, Aucust. Bau und Leben des socialen K orpers. 

SPENCER, HERBERT. Principles of Sociology, Vol. II, pp. 387-403. 

WALKER, Francis A. Political Economy, pp. 120-143. 

Warp, LESTER F. Dynamic Sociology, Vol. I, p. 565. 


QUESTIONS AND EXERCISES 


1. What inconvenience was there inherent in the exchange of commodities 
themselves, which was obviated by the introduction of money? 

2. Show how exchange increases the value of an article. 

3. Set out clearly the effects of exchange upon social life. 

4. In what ways does social development affect exchange? 

5. Trace the various steps in the development of exchange in the history 
of the United States. 

6. What social classes exist in your community as a result of the organiza- 
tion of exchange? 

7. Why is the mail order house able to compete with the local merchant 
for trade? Which of these reasons are economic and which are social in 
their nature? 

8. What evils are to be seen in our economic and social life as a result of 
maladjustment in our organization of exchange? 

9. Show that a strike is due to lack of adjustment of social machinery to 
prevent it. 

10. Give illustrations from the history of the United States tending to 
show that development of ethical sentiments by a society makes certain 
businesses and some methods of doing business impossible. 

11. What changes are just now under way in this country in methods of 
doing business due to the development of new social standards? 


CHAPTER XI 
THE EVOLUTION OF ETHICS 


The Nature of Ethics. — The subject in general seems simple 
enough until we begin to define it or set its limitations. Ethics 
concerns the moral life which involves thoughts, feelings, inten- 
tions, and actions, relating to the association of man with his 
fellows. It demarcates right and wrong and sets the question of 
duty by the highest standards of the community. 

Each community has its own moral standards and its own 
moral code. In every society there may be many individual 
variations from these standards and from the recognized code. 
Primarily this code is unwritten, but represents all those relation- 
ships of individuals which are usually designated as moral. 

The recounting of the various moral systems of the world as 
set forth by the philosophers would be called the history of 
ethics. This does not mean a history of the various changes in 
the ethical practice of individuals so much as a history of the 
opinions of philosophers and the theories of moral standards. 
Evolutionary ethics, with which we are here concerned, is a 
social science and has to do with the origin and development of 
moral practice. It treats of the various relationships of in- 
dividuals in primitive society, the origin of altruism and its 
slow and painful development. While sociology has to do with 
the question of practical morals in all the various relationships 
of modern life, —in business, politics, or in purely social inter- 
course, vague in its nature, but none the less important for that, — 
it is also interested in the evolution of moral practice, for only 
as one understands how morals originated and developed does 
one obtain a clear conception of the structure and activities of 
modern society. It is through a study of this phase of ethics 
that the moral status of a society may be truly estimated. 

The Social Importance of Ethics. — A study of the develop- 
ment of ethical conduct is important to the student of sociology 

220 


THE EVOLUTION OF ETHICS 25 


for several reasons. In the first place, ethical actions are 
socially conditioned, the people who act are involved in social 
relations, and their actions are described as ethical or non- 
ethical, or unethical, primarily according to their bearing on the 
welfare of others. We must study them, therefore, in order 
that as students of society we may see how such social institu- 
tions as ethical codes and standards came to be what they are 
to-day. As some one has said, we do not know anything save 
as we understand how it came to be. The student of social 
institutions is interested then in the origin and development of 
morals. 

In the second place, the student of sociology is interested in 
ethics because of the ethical questions which arise in connection 
with the problems of practical sociology. We talk sometimes 
about the ethics of individual conduct as if such an ethics is 
complete in itself. Is an ethics of any account which does 
not have for its basis the welfare of the group? And is not 
the ethics of individual conduct to a large degree determined 
by social considerations? Certainly the only important ethics 
for the student of sociology is social ethics. As such it possesses 
great importance, for our chief concern in any study apart from 
an understanding of the nature of the subject is its value toward 
the realization of a social ideal. 

With the development of the organization of society, the spread 
of education and the rise of moral ideals in our social relation- 
ships, there has been an increasing demand for the application 
of ethical principles to public affairs. We hear about business 
ethics and political ethics. Our papers and magazines are 
filled with discussions concerning the trust problem, the regula- 
tion of railways, the practices of those in charge of railways 
and industrial combinations. Those who in newspapers and 
elsewhere are writing seriously about these socio-economic prob- 
lems are discussing also their ethical phases. What do these 
discussions signify except that the conscience of the whole group 
is exercising itself upon these problems from the ethical stand- 
point? Ethical conduct is so essentially a part of all normal 
social activities that it furnishes the key for social progress. 
We cannot understand our social life and ideals at present unless 
we study the development of social ethics. 

Again, a study of the social aspects of ethics is important 


222 OUTLINES OF SOCIOLOGY 


because ethical customs, standards, and codes are very effective 
methods of social control.! 

The Genesis of Ethics. — That there was a dawn of moral 
consciousness in the human race is certain. We assume that 
there must have been a time in the history of the human race 
when men were non-moral. This assumption cannot be directly 
proved, for we know of no human beings who have no ideas of 
ethical practice. The assumption is based on a number of 
indirect evidences. One of these is the lack of morality in the 
young child, another is supplied by the fact that there are many 
tribes of people found whose morality is quite different from 
other moralities and who on certain subjects have no code of 
ethics or any ethical scruples. Whether, however, the time 
when there was absolutely no ethical code belongs to man’s 
history or to that of his animal ancestor we have no way of 
determining. We certainly can go so far as to say that there 
was a time in the history of mankind when there was very little 
if any conscious morality. So far as we can judge of the matter 
to-day we may conclude that the earliest morality was an 
almost if not quite instinctive group morality concerned with 
the survival of the members of that group. It is highly prob- 
able that group morality preceded individual morality in order 
of development. Race morality was a morality of restraint 
enforced by the sanctions of custom, tradition, and sometimes 
of religion, and was established partly by instinctive animal 
reactions and partly by a dimly perceived advantage in such 
restraints. With the growth of reason and the development of 
the emotions, perception of the advantage of certain standards 
of moral conduct and an increase of pleasurable results as well 
as a refinement of emotional effects appeared. In the earlier 
stages of its development it is probable that certain instinctive 
actions which were of advantage for survival established them- 
selves by natural selection. These were confirmed by the 
pleasure which they afforded, as, for example, in the case of the 
mother who denied herself that she might serve her child. 
Tradition and custom further strengthened the action and 
finally reason developed to the point where the advantage of 
such unselfishness became apparent. All of these forces estab- 
lished in the individual’s mind the ought of modern ethics. 

1 Ross, Social Control, Chap. XXVI. 


THE EVOLUTION OF ETHICS 223 


Modern theories as to the origin of moral sentiments range 
themselves in a general way into two groups. The earlier 
theories were based upon sympathy. The classic work on this 
subject is by Adam Smith, who is better known to the world 
because of his authorship of The Wealth of Nations, and by 
reason of the influence of that book has been called the father 
of political economy.' In the first two chapters of his Theory 
of Moral Sentiments Smith points out that no matter how selfish 
a man may be there are evidently some principles in his nature 
which make it imperative that he interest himself in the happi- 
ness of others, and that a man’s happiness is increased by the 
sympathy of his fellows. Man therefore desires the approval 
of his fellow men that he may enjoy greater pleasure himself, 
according to Smith. Morals, according to this view, are due to 
sympathy, which is almost instinctive in its nature. Smith 
was followed in much the same vein by Bain.? While sharing 
the same general view of the fundamental characteristic out of 
which ethical action grew, with that breadth of vision which 
characterized him in so remarkable a fashion, Darwin said that 
there were other elements which had to be taken into account 
if one would give the complete natural history of the moral 
sense. He criticized Smith and Bain for their contention that 
the basis of sympathy lay ‘in our strong retentiveness of 
former states of pain or pleasure.” He urged that this theory 
does not explain why sympathy is excited in such immeasurably 
stronger degree by a beloved person than by one for whom we 
do not care. He believed that no matter how it originated, 
sympathy has now become an instinct. In man sympathy, he 
believed with Professor Bain, has been supplemented by selfish- 
ness, experience, and imitation. It is much strengthened by 
habit, and has been increased by natural selection. He was 
not certain whether man’s social characteristics are instinctive 
or whether they are the indirect result of other instincts and 
faculties like sympathy, reason, experience, and a tendency to 
imitation, or to long-continued habit. We possess them, how- 
ever gained, and they form, especially, sympathy and habit, 
supplemented in man by reason, the basis of ethical action. 
The most important of all such characteristics, according to 


1Smith, Theory of Moral Sentiments, Bohn edition, 1892, Chaps. I, IT. 
2 Bain, Mental and Moral Science, 1868, pp. 244, 275-282. 


224 OUTLINES OF SOCIOLOGY 


Darwin, is fear of the disapprobation, and desire of the approval 
of our companions. He added, ‘‘ Actions are regarded by 
savages, and were probably so regarded by primeval man, as 
good or bad, solely as they affect in an obvious manner the wel- 
fare of the tribe — not that of the species, nor that of man as 
an individual member of the tribe. This conclusion agrees well 
with the belief that the so-called moral sense is aboriginally 
derived from the social instincts, for both relate at first exclu- 
sively to the community.” ! Thus, Darwin has added to sym- 
pathy habit, reason, and the influence of our fellows upon our 
actions. Furthermore, he made the fruitful suggestion that 
natural selection had something to do with the origin of these 
social characteristics. 

The second group of theories is based upon habit or custom. 
These theories, to state them briefly and in general terms, pro- 
ceed upon the assumption that the moral is the habitual for the 
group. Perhaps the leader of this school of thought is the great 
German scholar, Wundt. The habitual for the individual, 
when it becomes the customary for the group, and is sanctioned 
by tradition and superstitious reverence, becomes a social norm 
and thus obligatory. Darwin, as can be seen from an outline 
of his thought just presented, invoked habit to explain the 
origin of morals. He did not believe, however, that habit was 
the only factor. 

Baldwin has stated succinctly the chief objection to the 
“habit ” basis of morals in the words, “ The theory of habit 
does not afford an adequate account of the sense we have, in our 
acutest ethical experiences, that what we ought to do may run 
counter to our habitual tendencies.” * Another objection to 
this bald statement of the theory is that it does not account 
for reflective morality. Without a doubt, habit and custom 
play an important part in the genesis of morals; but their 
influence has its limitations. 

While these two groups include most of the theories which 
have been offered to explain the origin of morals, there are 
numerous variations. Westermarck postulates moral emotions 
as the basis of moral concepts which, he says, form the predi- 
cates of moral judgments. These moral emotions are akin to 


1 Darwin, Descent of Man, 1871, Vol. I, Chap. III. 
2 Baldwin, Social and Ethical Interpretations, 1908, p. 46. 


THE EVOLUTION OF ETHICS 225 


gratitude and revenge, and are essentially generalizations of 
tendencies in certain phenomena to call forth either indignation 
or approval! Yet, to him “ Society is the birth place of the 
moral consciousness,” and the first moral judgments expressed 
not the private emotions of the isolated individuals, but emotions 
which were felt by the community at large.? In general, there- 
fore, it may be said, that Westermarck bases moral conduct, so 
far as the individual is concerned, on the emotions, but these 
emotions in their genesis are socially conditioned. 

Baldwin approaches the matter from the standpoint of genetic 
psychology. It is a part of the process which he has so happily 
denominated the “ dialectic of personal growth.” In the child 
and in the race the ethical sense develops, according to Baldwin, 
in the give and take of the conflict between the individual’s own 
instinctive and habitual tendencies and the accommodations 
which he is constantly making by imitating an ideal, realized 
in some one who by the prestige of his character or his social 
position or his mental superiority is able to impress others. 
This other person gives him a conception of a socius, which 
awakes in him, in addition to his two other selves — those of 
habit and accommodation, — that of obedience to a command 
This other person supplies a law of social relations which lies 
above all individuals. This being, who with prestige lays down 
commands and receives obedience, himself obeys a law of action 
that puts restraints upon impulses which the child universalizing 
his own feelings and desires attributes to him. ‘There, says 
Baldwin, you have the birth of moral ideals. When this has 
become a part of the child’s mental furniture of a self, he gets 
into the habit of obeying the impulse to realize that ideal in 
his own personal characteristics by acting like the concrete 
personification of his ideal, and he may thus form the habit of 
violating former habits, a fact which to Baldwin explains why 
morality often overrides an established habit.’ 

Generalizing upon these various theories from the standpoint 
of sociology, we can say that ethical conduct arises from the 
interplay of the individual’s developing personality and the 

1 Westermarck, Origin and Development of Moral Ideas, 1908, Vol. II, p. 738. 

2 Op. cit., Pp. 740. 

3 In the above is given a very brief interpretation of what Baldwin has worked 


out rather thoroughly. For the details see Baldwin, Social and Ethical Inter pre- 
tations, 1908, pp. 40-65. 


Q 


226 OUTLINES OF SOCIOLOGY 


surrounding social conditions including social personalities. 
Baldwin’s analysis is simply an explanation of the process 
by which a human being is socialized and so becomes an 
ethical person. It is an admirable interpretation of the 
mental adjustment through which the individual becomes a 
socius. The factors in the development of that moral person- 
ality are the individual mind with its inherited instincts and 
tendencies, whatever these may be, the physical conditions in 
the midst of which he lives, and, most important of all, perhaps, 
the social atmosphere of habits, customs, ideals, institutions, 
and sanctions prevailing where he lives. 

This act of the moral consciousness is a means of selecting 
the best in life. How important this selection is in the advance 
of the race may be determined by considering the social choices. 
The ideals of life are determined by a process of exclusion of 
all those things which are improper and deleterious, and inclu- 
sion of those which are supposed to be of the highest advantage 
to the individual or the race. These ideals are ever present in 
all tribes and races where social consciousness has dawned and 
ever present in the individual in whom moral consciousness has 
appeared. 

If, however, these ethical ideals are born from the womb of 
society, how does it happen that they are higher ideals than 
the ideals possessed by the individuals composing that society? 
How can that be possible when it is a well-known principle of 
sociology that the group mind is more feeble than that of the 
average individual in the group? ‘These perplexing questions 
have been best answered by Professor Ross. He says that the 
ethical ideals of society are higher than those of individuals 
because of a conscious or unconscious hypocrisy on the part of 
individuals. Tom, Dick, and Harry are willing to give assent 
to ideals which are to govern others, but which, as they in their 
mental reservations believe, are not necessarily binding on 
themselves. They are unwilling to admit that they do not 
personally intend to be governed by such principles because 
they wish to be thought as high minded as any one. Yet, in 
their own practices they do not apply these principles. Thus. 
the higher ethical principles become established by a consent 
that is based upon an unwillingness in most people to acknowl- 
edge to others their own inferior principles. How this uncon- 


THE EVOLUTION OF ETHICS 227 


scious hypocrisy works may be seen in the man who, hearing a 
moral ideal set forth, applies it to his neighbor or acquaintance, 
entirely forgetting that it is intended for him as well as for his 
neighbor. He assents to the ideal, but deflects its application 
from himself to another.! 

This explanation accounts for the establishment in the tradi- 
tions of society of a high moral ideal, but how shall we account 
for the origin of the higher ideal in the first place? Here the 
moral genius must be sought as the explanation. Out of the 
moral consciousness of some man or woman must come the 
fructifying ideal which will lift a race or a nation.2 What 
spark set aflame that choice spirit with a new thought destined 
to lift a world, who can say? What challenge of physical en- 
vironment to the soul of man stirred to inspiration his slumber- 
ing thought, — what desert solitude, or burning sky or awe- 
inspiring firmament or crashing storm? Or was it contact with 
perverse circumstance of life, — death of a loved one wringing 
the elemental emotions, or destiny turning the promise of joyous 
victory to the certainty of bitter defeat? Or, again, was it the 
strife of conflict with other human beings, perhaps depraved, 
immoral, flaunting the established decencies of society? Who 
can analyze the subtle influences which stir the soul of an Amos 
to that white heat of moral enthusiasm into which the dross of 
sensuality and perfunctory offerings to God are cast, to come 
forth again as an ideal new to the world, — the ideal of a God 
of social righteousness who desired justice rolling down like 
waters and righteousness like a mighty stream rather than 
burnt offerings, meal offerings, and peace offerings ; rather than 
songs of praise and the music of viols?? Doubtless all these 
influences must be reckoned when the final explanation of the 
great man is made. But our task is to give due place to the 
moral genius who flings out his inspirations to our startled ears 
with a challenge and an appeal which demands attention and 
insures the assent of our inmost thought. Given the moral 
prophet and this tendency of humanity to assent to more than 
it is willing itself to practice; given convention and tradition ; 
given the codperation in things which arouse no conflict and 


1Ross, Social Control, Chap. XXV. 
2 Tbid., Chap. XXVI. 
3 Amos 5: 23. 


228 OUTLINES OF SOCIOLOGY 


which all can enjoy; and the development of morals has started 
which will go on towards perfection. The soul of the genius 
wrought upon by the influences of Nature and Man creates the 
ideal; the conscience of the individual ashamed to acknowledge 
his own preference for a lower standard sanctions it; and con- 
vention, sympathy, custom, and tradition establish it. 

The Moral Evolution of Man. — But the standards of right, 
the ideals of man and society, and the social choices perpetually 
change in the progress of social life. There has been an evolu- 
tion of morality. People feel differently and act differently 
towards each other from generation to generation. The notions 
of right and wrong change from time to time. ‘There are vary- 
ing standards of morality, not only in different races, but in the 
same race, from age to age. The racial morality of the Sioux 
Indians is far different from the racial morality of the French 
nation. In the former, in order to preserve the tribe, instruc- 
tion is given in the art of killing, hence the young brave is not 
worthy of the esteem of his fellows until he wears one or more 
scalps in his belt. In the latter, legislation and civil justice 
backed by education and religion are the means of preservation, 
and the ideal type is the man of letters and diplomacy. If we 
were to follow, however, the history of the French people from 
the life of the Gauls to the present time, we should find a con- 
stantly changing standard of morality, and especially a con- 
stant change in moral practice. Whatever impulses or feelings 
may occur to determine the action of individuals there is always 
the social standard by which to make measurements. Customs 
are established, the unwritten moral code, always in evidence, 
congeals into traditional usage, and, more than this, the statute 
laws founded on custom and usage appear. 

This is so evident that the influence of social environment on 
individual moral conduct is strongly marked. Whatever may 
be an individual’s feelings of right or wrong, his actions are in- 
fluenced by the ethical standard of the community, although in 
this there is a great difference between pure morality and con- 
ventionality. Many individuals act conventionally, while in 
their inmost feelings they are inclined to act otherwise. There 
are cases in which morality becomes conventionality, when cer- 
tain moral acts of the individual coincide with the form of social 
action. A person may feel that so far as his own conscience is 


THE EVOLUTION OF ETHICS 229 


concerned, he may indulge in certain practices without injury 
to his life or character. But if this interferes with the conven- 
tional forms of society so as to cause a confusion of social order 
and otherwise affect the relations of his fellow men in a dele- 
terious way, it may be considered immoral. For instance, if 
one in a church should decide for himself that he could rise in 
the congregation and ask the minister questions concerning his 
sermon, believing thereby that he could make clearer to the con- 
gregation the subject under discussion, it might be, so far as 
individual action is concerned, a perfectly moral act. But 
when we consider the effect on the congregation and upon the 
religious service, viewed from the standpoint of conventionality, 
evil results might follow. Hence in this case a violation of 
conventionality may be immoral conduct. 

On the other hand, the conventional may become tinged with 
a moral quality. For example, in the course of ages it became 
conventional for civilized people to wear clothes which on most 
occasions cover most of the body. In the course of time this 
practice became a part of the moral code of society, so that if 
a person in our Western world goes with as little clothing as a» 
savage, he is looked upon as an immoral person. So also with 
styles of dress. A new style comes in, like the slit skirt or the 
V-shaped collar in women’s dress to-day. At first it is looked 
upon as immoral because it violates the conventional. When 
closely analyzed, such feelings concerning these innovations are 
seen to be due to our conventional ideas upon the subject of 
exposure of the person, for under certain circumstances, such 
as a formal social function, the exposure of much more of the 
person is considered perfectly proper. Let the custom of wear- 
ing clothes in a certain way become common, and any thought 
of immorality in connection with it will fade away. The con- 
ventional makes the moral in many cases. 

Progress of Ethical Practice through Sympathy. — Doubtless 
the moral forces which arise from the feelings of the individual 
have at least one source of their origin in the beginnings of sym- 
pathy of the mother for her offspring. This sympathy extended 


1 Wallis has held that the altruistic feeling does not originate with mother love 
alone but with father love, with conscious desire for the safety and good of the 
loved person, from the sex relation of men and women, from the relations occur- 
ring during youth of brotherhood and sisterhood, and from the relation between 
adult males and children. See his The Great Society, Chapter 9. 


230 OUTLINES OF SOCIOLOGY 


from the mother to the immediate associates and relatives in 
the home, and finally extended to the whole group who were 
permanently associated with one-another. This widening range 
of sympathetic action finally extended to the whole social group 
located upon a given territory and united by bonds of social 
control. This represents the origin of patriotism, which is a 
love of the land, of its people, and of its institutions. And 
patriotism has given some of its best qualities to the relief of 
suffering man, no matter of what country or race he came. 
Altruism has extended until a universal sympathy for suffering 
is recognized. A flood in China or a famine in India, as well as 
a drought in Nebraska, or an earthquake in San Francisco, call 
out our compassion and help. There is to-day a world ethics 
which passes around the globe, although limited sadly among 
some nations, recognizing the rights and privileges of all and 
relieving the sufferings of many. 

Egoism versus Altruism in Social Development. — The law of 
struggle for survival has always shadowed the individual exist- 
ence and happiness of man. From the very beginning he has 
been obliged to struggle against the forces of nature for existence. 
His physical environment has to be subdued in order to permit 
him to exist. When he cannot subordinate natural forces to 
his own life, he finds it necessary to adapt his life to meet their 
conditions. But in every instance it is only a method of struggle 
for mastery, for the purpose of survival, which characterizes 
his work. ‘Truly, effort, — persistent effort, — has made man. 
Nor has his effort been confined to the mastery of the forces of 
nature; he struggles also with his fellows for supremacy. Indeed, 
frequently this struggle has been for life itself, few of the great 
mass being able to survive. Egoism has characterized man’s 
early struggle, and his life has ever been influenced by it. 

While egoism predominated in the early or primitive history 
of man, altruism, at first a faint tremulous line of conduct, has 
attracted his course of life, growing stronger and more universal, 
exercising an ever widening influence. Side by side then have 
existed the struggle of man for his own existence and his struggle 
for the existence of his fellows. The former was at first rela- 
tively the stronger, but the latter gradually developed and over- 
shadowed it, until to-day altruism, or interest in the welfare 
and happiness of others, has become an essential part of our 


THE EVOLUTION OF ETHICS 231 


modern social life in ever widening circles. Self-interest has 
been supplemented by social interest. Therefore, while we 
consider the evolution of man through his individual struggle 
for existence it must be remembered that his power to associate 
and to defend mutual human rights and interests has been the 
primary means of his mastery of the beasts of the fields and the 
powers of nature. Without this association man must have 
been overwhelmed and become an extinct species. Hence 
altruism has been a factor in the evolution of human society, 
and it now is as much a part of the general scheme of the struggle 
for existence, as is egoism, and its course of development has been 
continuous from the minute beginnings of simple society to the 
complexity of modern life. 

However, society as a whole sympathizes with the individual, 
for no man can suffer without the sympathy and attention of the 
group. No man’s life is abused or destroyed without his cause 
being espoused by a large part of the community. This altruis- 
tic motive is interwoven with the entire social life. There must 
be a harmony of social and individual interests. On the one 
hand, the individual must meet all social requirements. On the 
other hand, society must give the individual opportunity for his 
own development and survival. The proper balancing of these 
two interests determines the lines along which our modern social 
practices run. The harmony of individual and social interests 
is the essential characteristic of a perfect society. 

How a moral ideal develops out of the interaction of leading 
spirits and environing physical or social conditions is to be seen 
in the period when some great change comes over a people. It 
may be an economic change, like the industrial revolution in 
England or America, or the introduction of great numbers of 
continental immigrants into Puritan America, or the introduction 
of a new method of Biblical interpretation. There is first a 
period of hesitation. People know not how to adjust themselves 
ethically to the new situation. Children from the poorhouses 
of England were worked in the mills until Mrs. Browning and 
moralists like her set up a new moral ideal adapted to meet the 
needs of the changed conditions. Germans revolted against 
the temperance sentiment of the United States. The conflict 
of moral ideals has gone on for a quarter of a century and more. 
Out of the turmoil there begins to appear an adjustment between 


232 OUTLINES OF SOCIOLOGY 


two moral ideals which is neither the one nor the other. Out 
of the changing conditions of the present time there are emerging 
new social ideals of morality. ‘The owners of factories are evolv- 
ing a conscience as to hours of labor for their workers. Child 
labor is being tabooed. The labor of women is condemned 
under certain conditions of factory life. The morality of an 
honest day’s work by the worker begins to appear. Our morals 
have changed in the past forty years to meet the changed 
economic and social conditions. In international affairs the 
binding obligation of ‘‘a scrap of paper” is recognized by the 
conscience of an unprejudiced world opinion. Society, led by 
its choice spirits and in response to the goads of maladjustment 
felt everywhere, is constantly creating new moral ideals to 
express more perfectly its sense of relationships which will con- 
duce to the happiness of the greatest number of its constituent 
individuals. 

The Development of Justice. — Justice, like altruism, has its 
origin in sympathy. Primarily it is a feeling of suffering, pain, 
or pleasure that gives rise to a sentiment of justice. We believe 
a thing is right or wrong concerning ourselves, and the same 
feelings are extended to our fellows. We wish to measure them 
by the same rule by which we measure ourselves. If an in- 
dividual perceives that an injustice is being done toward him- 
self, a sentiment of resentment is aroused in him. If he observes 
the same injustice toward any one of his fellows, the same feel- 
ing of resentment is aroused. ‘Thus, justice has its origin in 
fellow suffering. But in its more developed state it is an out- 
come of the passion for self-preservation, together with a per- 
ception that my preservation is involved in the preservation of 
my group. It is a question of giving each man his just dues, 
rights, and privileges, that all may be preserved thereby. While 
it may have its origin in sympathy, it was early influenced by 
the normal form of intellectual action. It was an attempt to 
regulate the practice of deception. 

It is urged by Ward and conceded by others that deception 
is a normal mode of intellectual action. Self-preservation, the 
strongest instinct in the animal man, has been supported by the 
process of deception. As Ward says, ‘‘ The ruse is the simplest 
form of deception, and this brings out the vital truth that in so 
far as mind deals with sentient beings deception is its essential 


THE EVOLUTION OF ETHICS 233 


nature.”1 This universal principle of all animal life is readily 
observed in the deception displayed in predatory animals in 
their attempt to catch their prey. The rabbit could outrun 
the fox, or by burrowing elude his pursuit, hence it is necessary 
for the fox to move stealthily and slyly upon his game. The 
cat could not catch the mouse or the eagle his prey without 
deception. Man in his attempt to fish and hunt practices the 
same ruse or deception, a little higher in order than that of the 
lower animals. He baits the hook to catch the fish, and drives 
the animals into snares. In this capacity he is a “ predatory, 
carnivorous animal.” The next step is the preservation of 
animals for service. In order to train them for domestic service, 
it is necessary to take them while young, and by food and proper 
training they may be led to work the will of man. In the 
management of man the same principle is discernible, for while 
slavery, to a certain extent, may have been the result of force, 
deception has been used as a means of establishing it. But in 
the later forms of society through priestcraft or monarchy or 
nobility a certain favored few, through the arts of deception, 
have made the many serve them. In the business world where 
competition has been strong, deception has flourished. While 
to-day business is regulated to a certain extent by laws, by the 
moral code, and a general sense of fairness, we still find men 
succeeding and growing wealthy at the expense of their fellows 
through the art of deception. The secret of the success of a 
great business enterprise has frequently been sharp practice. 
It is not only by securing advantageous conditions and by con- 
trolling the resources of nature, but by bargaining secretly, by 
deceiving as to the amount of profits, and by many other similar 
means that many people win success in the world. 

Nor is the deception frequently practiced in politics very 
different from this. It is a struggle, a warfare with all the 
rights and privileges of deceiving the enemy. To deceive this 
man, to dupe another, to take advantage of the opposing party, 
by foul means or fair, may insure success in modern as well as 
in ancient politics. In the higher forms of government, what 
more is war or diplomacy than a systematized and orderly 
method of deception? Likewise, in ordinary social contact, in 
order to preserve their individuality and to protect their per- 

1 Pure Sociology, p. 484. 


234 OUTLINES OF SOCIOLOGY 


sonality, people deceive each other in small matters, and culti- 
vate the art. To what extent this should be carried is an open 
question. There are those who preach against the art of decep- 
tion and rule it out absolutely as a legitimate practice, the while 
they themselves, in one form or another, are constantly practicing 
it. The mother takes advantage of the simplicity of the child 
in order to control it for its good. The priest takes advantage 
of the ignorance of his parishioners or penitents to lead them in 
the right way. The lawyer tries to win his case though he may 
feel that he could have pleaded the other side of the case more 
easily. Such deception has led to the development of justice. 

The Origin of Natural Justice. — Much has been said by 
political philosophers of a system of natural justice. A part of 
what they have said is true, but much is false and misleading, 
for there is no natural justice but the law of force. The so-called 
state of nature is merely a state of egoistic struggle for existence 
in which might makes right. The individual gets and keeps 
what he can. Under natural justice there is no individual 
ownership of property except when a man is able to hold and 
possess goods or lands against all comers. This is natural 
justice. 

That, however, is not what those who originally used the 
term meant. They conceived that somehow in the nature of 
things there existed an undiscovered ideal law of social relation- 
ships which was of universal application to all men. It was 
assumed to be the rational basis of all conduct. It was a jus 
nature. What they thought they might find in the jus nature 
was a delusion. No such basis of moral conduct exists in 
Nature, or anywhere outside their imagination. The concept 
was a part of the old metaphysic which postulated an unalter- 
able ideal, the very image of perfection. Such a conception 
belongs to the day preceding the birth of the theory that all 
things are in a state of change. What is perfect to-day is im- 
perfect to-morrow. Perfect justice is perfect adjustment of rela- 
tions between groups, between individuals and groups, and between 
individuals. Let the adjustment be ever so perfect to-day, if a 
new invention be made, this perfect justice gives way to-morrow 
to injustice. 

So long as relations between men are governed by social 

1 Giddings, Principles of Sociology, 1900, p. 330. 


THE EVOLUTION OF ETHICS 235 


sanctions or social disapprovals, we call the code of these sanc- 
tions and disapprovals ethics or morals. When, however, the 
political organization undertakes to establish these relations with 
civil sanctions, then we have a legal code and a standard or code 
of justice. In other words civil justice is ethical relations sanc- 
tioned by the state. In the sense of unsocialized adjustment of 
differences to the advantage of the strong, ‘‘ natural ” justice 
always exists until the conflict of interests has been adjusted 
and the strong has been curbed by the gentle but none the less 
effective methods of social control, in the interests of society. 

Transition from Natural to Civil Justice. — The transition 
from natural to civil justice was very gradual. It came about 
primarily through the widening influences of sympathy. The 
growth of intelligence and all the social machinery previously 
discussed greatly aided. Correct conduct is obtained not by 
sympathy alone, but through regulation by the intellect. The 
growing intelligence perceives the economic loss of a long- 
standing injustice like slavery, or the degradation of woman. 
‘“‘ Natural ” justice regards not the sufferings of individuals nor 
the consequences of predatory activity. It is only through sym- 
pathy and intelligence that these can be observed. Not only 
the consideration of the consequence of actions, but the knowl- 
edge of what can be accomplished and what cannot, leads to 
restraint, to preservation of the group for the sake of preserva- 
tion of the individual. For example, if it be observed that 
under a state of anarchy the social group is in danger of extinc- 
tion, civil justice will prevail to regulate the rights and duties 
of the members of the community. This intelligence and 
appreciation of results gradually restricts the acquisitive powers 
and brings about a social harmony. Out of the struggle for 
survival comes the establishment of civil law; out of the natural 
struggle of the savage for his own existence comes the civil 
regulation for the preservation and prosperity of the individual 
and society. Moreover, the development of social bonds, the 
refinement of feelings and tastes destroys the possibility of en- 
joyment of former activities and creates a demand for new 
satisfactions which can be satisfied only by the establishment of 
justice. 

The Development of Civil Justice. — Once the individual 
relinquished his unrestricted right to do as he pleased, and 


236 OUTLINES OF SOCIOLOGY 


depended upon the custom or law controlling the whole group 
for his guidance, civil justice grew rapidly. The moral judg- 
ments of the social group became crystallized into law, and soon 
the individual had no rights except those that society chose to 
grant. The social group by intelligent regulation sought to 
benefit each individual throughout the whole community. 
Both ethical conduct and social justice, its product, are con- 
sclously designed by society to accomplish certain clearly per- 
ceived advantageous results. Thus, ethics and justice become 
the results of intelligent purpose. 

On the other hand, there are many influences which retard 
the perfection of civil society through intelligence. For in- 
stance, while intelligence increases the knowledge of cause and 
effect, it also increases temptation because of the multiplication 
of desires and the increasing number of opportunities for a per- 
sonal enjoyment. The growth of reason is accompanied by an 
atrophy of instinct. And reason is not by any means so 
reliable a guide in ordinary relations as instinct. Consequently, 
in new situations if the instincts have ceased to function while 
reason is deliberating, passion decides, and often the wrong 
choice is made. But equilibrium is maintained by the increased 
power to overcome temptation which intelligence brings. If 
increased sympathy or altruism appears, the restraint will be 
sufficient to improve the civil relations of individuals. How- 
ever, it must be considered that neither immediate nor ultimate 
individual interests are not always social interests. For an 
individual may seek his immediate salvation at the expense of 
the general welfare, but all may not do this without the destruc- 
tion of society. 

On the other hand, in the long run, when each is seeking to 
conserve the best interests of the whole, individual interests 
will ultimately be protected. Yet, in the application of civil 
justice to society, survivals of the old savagery, that is, of 
natural justice, constantly manifest themselves. For instance, 
there is a tendency to evade laws, both moral and civil, as the 
pressure of social usage increases and causes the morally weak 
to disobey the will of the majority. Thus the morally weak 
become criminals. Things that were formerly allowed are now 
forbidden because the complexity of social life necessitates the 
more exact observance of individual conduct. This causes the 


THE EVOLUTION OF ETHICS 237 


non-socially inclined to resist or evade the law. Hence in the 
development of society the line of criminality constantly rises 
to include more and more of those who in a previous stage of 
social evolution would not have been considered criminal. 

However, there is less of the action of brute force than 
formerly and more resort to cunning. The struggle is for 
domination rather than for mere survival. Domination 
gradually becomes intellectual rather than physical. The 
mental struggle for supremacy goes on in spite of the repres- 
sion of violent measures. This process is observed most fre- 
quently to-day in trade and commerce where competition in 
the acquisition of wealth is keen, where each man strives to get 
ahead of the other. Many of the practices of modern business 
are questionable when measured by the ethical standard of the 
times. It is only through a government seeking justice to all, 
which has formulated moral principles into laws, that individuals 
may be protected from the evils of this latter-day cunning. 

But, after all, the practical application of ethical principles to all 
the affairs and relations of life, and the legal punishment of any 
lapse from these principles, in short, the establishment of justice, 
is the chief aim of government, and its duty will not be completed 
until it offers protection to all in the industrial world and re- 
presses the predatory habits of man in the acquisition of wealth. 
Industrial or economic justice is as essential to the happiness 
of mankind as political justice, and at present of more vital 
consequence. For we live to-day in the last period of a great 
reform movement which began in the Renaissance, when the 
right of independent thought was declared. It continued in the 
Reformation which secured freedom of religious belief. It led 
on to political revolution and political liberty. Now we are 
engaged in the fourth phase of the struggle, the phase of indus- 
trial liberty. In this will come the final triumph of ethical 
society. 


REFERENCES 


BALDWIN, JAMES Marx. Social and Ethical Interpretations in Mental 
Development, 1913, Chap. I, and pp. 443-445. 

Houxtey, THos. H. Lvolution and Ethics, pp. 46-146. 

Lecky, W. E.H. History of European Morals, Vol. I, pp. 130-160. 

ScouRMAN, J. G. The Ethical Import of Darwinism. 


238 OUTLINES OF SOCIOLOGY 


SPENCER, HERBERT. Social Statics, pp. 1-32; Principles of Ethics, pp. 1- 
63, 174-200, 263-276. 

SUTHERLAND, A. Origin and Growth of the Moral Instinct. 

Taytor, HucH. The Morality of Nations, pp. 151-294. 

WALLis, GRAHAM. The Great Society, Chap. IX. 

Warp, Lester F. Dynamic Sociology, Vol. I, pp. 320-376; 503-524. 

WESTERMARCK. The Origin and Development of Moral Ideas, 1908, Vol. II, 
Pp. 738-740. 

Witurams, C. M. Lvolutionary Ethics, Chaps. V, TX. 


QUESTIONS AND EXERCISES 


1. Of what importance to the student of sociology is the study of the origin 
and development of ethics? 

2. Describe the origin and development of our ethical ideas regarding 
private property. 

3. Explain the psychological process by which a boy attains the concep- 
tion of obligation and responsibility. 

4. Give an illustration of a moral ideal developing through custom. 

5. What part does genius play in the development of morality? 

6. Describe how primitive moralities and primitive ethical ideals are 
raised and refined; how they are enlarged so as to dominate new spheres. 

7. Give an illustration showing how an ethical ideal may originate in 
sympathy. 

8. Why was it that our fathers had no ethics upon the subject of trusts? 

9. Explain the difference between the ethical ideals and practices of the 
eighteenth century and those of the twentieth century in America in the 
matter of sex morals. In what sense does society determine moral ideals ? 

10. What is the relation of morality and justice? 

11. Explain the parts played by ruse and deception in the development of 
morality and justice. 

12. Explain the hesitation in regard to the proper code of morality for 
the new woman; why some men feel no compunction in cheating a railway 
company or a corporation; why a corporation has no conscience. 

13. What is the relation of a developing morality to the regulation of 
trusts, railroad rates, insurance rates, and such subjects? 

14. Read Wallis, The Great Society, Chap. IX, and then show in what 
other feelings than mother love altruism may originate. 


CHAPTER XII 
THE SOCIAL ORIGIN OF RELIGION 


The Influence of Religion on Social Development. — The 
importance of religion as a factor in social evolution, particu-- 
larly in tribal organization and race differentiation, has been 
acknowledged by nearly all students of sociology. Some have 
placed so much emphasis upon its importance as to lead to the 
conclusion that it is the primal influence in securing primitive 
social unity. Others have either ignored it or insisted that it 
has retarded social progress. Neither of these views is correct. 
While it has had a strong influence in cementing the social 
group, in bringing about its unity, and in developing social forms 
and social order, nevertheless it is not the fundamental factor 
of social organization in primitive society. On the other hand, 
it has been asserted that it retards the progress of social life 
and that it is possible for philosophers to devise some better 
agency than religious organization for the advancement of 
civilization. Whatever may be the degree of truth in these 
assertions, it must not be forgotten that the careful student of 
the historical growth of society will find religion an ever present 
factor, indeed a force that must be reckoned with everywhere. 
In this respect it works peculiarly, for, while, on the one hand, 
it has favored differentiation between the races and between 
the independent growth of certain groups, on the other hand, 
it has been a potent force in increasing the unity of the group; 
that is, it has brought the interior life of the group or tribe into 
harmonious unity. When we consider how strong religion has 
been in the primitive culture of early society, it is easy to infer 
its great power as a society builder. 

The Origin of Religion and Revelation. — The question of 
the origin of religion has no bearing upon the question of whether 
there was or was not a revelation by which man became con- 
scious of the will of God. The scientific and philosophical in- 


239 


240 OUTLINES OF SOCIOLOGY 


quiry concerning the origin of religious sentiment is a matter 
quite apart from the inquiry which might be raised as to whether 
God has revealed His will to men. This chapter concerns itself 
solely with the natural history of the way in which the religious 
feelings, ideas, and practices arose in human society. Its 
question is, What natural conditions in man’s early history 
induced in him the religious attitude? What facts in the his- 
tory of his mental development determined the form of his 
religious expression? What conditions in his physical and social 
environments shaped his early religious ideas and practices? 

Historic Theories of the Origin of Religion. — The question 
of the natural origin of religion before the time of the English 
Deists was raised first by the Roman skeptical philosopher-poet, 
Lucretius, who in his de Rerum Natura characterized all belief 
in gods as an illusion and ascribed its genesis to fear. Hume, 
in 1755, in his Natural History of Religion, took essentially the 
position of Lucretius, saying that fear of the forces of nature 
led man to ascribe the phenomena of nature to powerful gods 
whom he hoped to bring to his side by proper attention such as 
would avail with persons.! 

Modern scholars have been influenced by these suggestions, 
yet not finding them adequate, have sought other natural 
explanations of the origin of religion. 

Sir John Lubbock, in his Origin of Civilization, published in 
1870, has given considerable evidence to show that primitive 
man personified nature and also that he worshiped the ghosts 
of ancestors. More than that, he indicated that the worship 
of the ghosts of ancestors often grew out of his worship of living 
beings.” Indeed, long before that time Comte had a theory 
of animism. He said, “ The theological period of humanity 
could begin no otherwise than by a complete and usually very 
durable state of pure fetishism, which allowed free exercise to 
the tendency of our nature by which man conceived of all 
external bodies as animated by a life analogous to his own 
with differences of their intensity.”* In concluding his argu- 
ment he said, ‘“‘ Thus fetishism is the basis of the theological 
philosophy, deifying every substance or phenomenon which 


1 Morris Jastrow, Jr., The Study of Religion, 1902, pp. 173-175. 
2 Lubbock, Origin of Civilization, pp. 189, 133, 221, 222. 
8 Positive Philosophy, Martineau’s translation, Vol. II, p. 186. 


THE SOCIAL ORIGIN OF RELIGION 241 


attracts the attention of humanity and remaining traceable 
through all its transformations to the very last.” ! 

Edward E. Tylor had a large influence upon the scholars 
of his time. He developed his theory most completely in his 
work on Primitive Culture. In a word, the theory is that primi- 
tive man attributed conscious life like his own to natural phe- 
nomena such as trees, stones, rivers, the sky, and the mountains. 
Seeking a cause for the phenomena that he saw about him, he 
began, according to Tylor, with the belief that each one was 
the action of some conscious personality. Knowing nothing 
about impersonal causes, he attributed to all the striking 
phenomena of nature a soul or spirit resembling his own. Ac- 
cording to Tylor, out of this fact has grown religion. Tylor 
regarded this form of religion as the earliest type found among 
men, and traced its development from its inception to its sur- 
vivals among civilized men. According to this theory, primi- 
tive man personified all nature with a spirit much like that which 
he and his fellows possessed. 

The criticism made of this theory is that, while at a certain 
stage of culture animism is almost universal among primitive 
men, it is not necessarily the earliest form of religion. An- 
thropologists have learned that not all peoples with a backward 
civilization have Tylor’s animistic conception. Before primi- 
tive men came to that state in their mental and social develop- 
ment when it seemed to them that all the world was teeming 
with active unseen spirits, they had a mere jumble of ideas 
concerning the mysterious in nature and man. 

Giddings rightly says that all interpretations of religion 
which start from the assumption that either fetishism, animal 
worship, nature worship, or ancestor worship was the primitive 
form from which all later forms were derived, are destined to 
be overthrown. He adds that the earliest belief was a jumble 
of ideas and it was long before the different elements of religion 
were discriminated in those ideas. His suggestion that the 
primitive man first believed in a Great Dreadful, an impersonal 
power or something, before he learned to identify it with a 
spirit form of any sort is worthy of consideration.” 


1 Positive Philosophy, Martineau’s translation, Vol. II, p. 189. 
2 Giddings, Principles of Sociology, p. 249. See also Giddings, ‘Darwinism in 
the Theory of Social Evolution,” Popular Science Monthly, July, 1909. To one 


R 


242 OUTLINES OF SOCIOLOGY 


Dr. King has suggested a term for the object of religious 
regard in this stage of man’s development, which seems very 
much better. He denominates it more vaguely ‘‘ The Mysteri- 
ous Power.” Probably the vagueness of the term corresponds 
very closely with the vagueness of the idea in the mind of primi- 
tive man who held in awe and fear that Something which he did 
not understand, but of which he was cognizant. Among the 
Algonquins of North America the term “ Manitou ” was the syn- 
onym for this Something. Many other people, among them the 
Japanese, have this same idea of a vague Something pervading 
the universe.! 

After a certain stage had been reached, doubtless primitive 
- man began to read into the universe his own experiences and 
feelings and thoughts. Then he began to personalize nature. 
Out of that animism arose. It was a crude philosophy and, at 
the same time, a crude religion. 

Tylor’s work on Primitive Culture appeared in 1871. In 
1876 Spencer’s first volume of The Principles of Sociology 
was published. In that volume he developed a theory of the 
origin of religion, as well as a theory of the origin of 
primitive man’s notions concerning the universe. Spencer’s 
theory of the origin of religion was somewhat different from 
that of Tylor. Spencer traced all religious practices back 
to fear of the ghost of an ancestor. He did not ignore Tylor’s 
theory of animism; he supplemented it with his ‘“ ghost ” 
theory. He laid the basis of his theory in the experiences of 
primitive men in sleep and dreams, echoes, shadows, reflections 
in the water, swoons, epilepsy, and death. These experiences 
Tylor had used as the basis for his doctrines of animism. Tylor 
had also referred to the worship of ghosts. He had, however, 
not given it the primary place in the development of religion 
which it occupied in Spencer’s opinion. According to Spencer, 
these experiences led primitive man to conclude that he was 
word in that suggestion of Giddings exception must be taken, and that is the word 
impersonal. One finds it difficult to understand how primitive man, before he 
has arrived at the mental and social development necessary to have our ideas of 
the impersonal, could conceive such an idea as our modern connotation of “imper- 
sonal’? would imply. Rather, did he not feel a fear of the great, mysterious Some- 
thing? Whether personal or impersonal probably did not occur to him to inquire. 
It was something which he did not understand, and of which therefore he had to 


beware. 
1 King, The Development of Religion, Chap. VI. 


THE SOCIAL ORIGIN OF RELIGION 243 


a double personality. Out of these and other experiences 
grew his belief in a life after death. He connected with this 
continuance of personality after death his fear of the dead 
ancestors. The ancestor revered in life was awe inspiring 
in death. Any calamity which happened to the individual 
after the death of an ancestor was an indication of the latter’s 
displeasure. He must be placated in death as he had been 
in life. Hence arose sacrifices to the dead.! 

Spencer illustrated his theory with a wealth of material 
which indeed made it seem plausible. His chief difficulty came 
when he attempted to explain the worship of plants, animals, 
and other objects of nature. Here his theory became labored. 
He accepted the animistic conception formulated by Tylor, 
but, differing from Tylor, he held that the spirits inhabiting 
natural objects like mountains, springs, heavenly bodies, 
plants, and animals were conceived by primitive man in all 
cases to be the ghosts of dead ancestors. He gave definiteness 
and completeness of form to the animistic theory of the origin 
of religion by this suggestion. 

But while the hypothesis is attractive, one feels that Spencer 
has failed to be convincing when he attempted to explain nature 
worship by the “ ghost theory.”” On the other hand, every 
new piece of evidence obtainable makes it perfectly apparent 
that when a people once reaches a stage of social development 
in which either the mother group or the patriarchal family is 
the characteristic social organization, ancestor worship may 
arise in much the way Spencer has suggested? This same evi- 
dence, however, indicates that among many primitive people 
existing to-day, as well as in certain historic peoples, religion 
existed before ancestor worship arose. For example, Sven 
Hedin’s description of the present-day Thibetans, who are 
not ancestor worshipers, but fetish worshipers, makes it 
perfectly plain that religion does not always arise from the 
worship of ghosts of ancestors. Like Tylor’s animistic theory, 
Spencer’s ‘‘ ghost theory”’ is incomplete. Moreover, it was 
overworked by Spencer. 

Max Miiller, not content either with Tylor’s or with Spencer’s 


1 Spencer, Principles of Sociology, Vol. I, Sections 24-204. 
2 The worship of female divinities makes it probable that ancestor worship arose 
in metronymic societies as in patriarchal, 


244 OUTLINES OF SOCIOLOGY 


suggestions, and approaching the problem not from the side 
of history but of ontology, proposed that the source of religion 
in the human heart is “‘ the perception of the Infinite ” aroused 
in man’s mind by his experiences with the world about him. 
The steadfastness of nature in contrast with his own ephemeral 
existence and his sense of the power of nature in contrast with 
his own weakness, according to Miiller, stirred this perception 
of the Infinite within his mind.1 

Tiele, the Dutch philosopher of religion, is at one with Miiller 
in searching for the origin of religion not in its historical begin- 
nings, but in some spiritual fact in primitive man’s life, — in 
some philosophical basis. ‘This ontological basis he finds, not 
in Max Miiller’s theory of man’s “‘ apprehension of the Infinite,” 
but in the Infinite within man. ‘“ The origin of religion consists 
in the fact that man has the Infinite within him, even before 
he is himself conscious of it, and whether he recognizes it or not.” 
‘Tt is man’s original, unconscious, innate sense of infinity that 
gives rise to his first stammering utterances of that sense, and 
to all his beautiful dreams of the past and future. These utter- 
ances and these dreams may have long since passed away, but 
the sense of infinity from which they proceed remains a constant 
quantity. It is inherent in the human soul. It lies at the 
root of man’s whole spiritual life.”’ ? 

Both these scholars are dealing with a different phase of 
the origin of religion from that considered by Spencer and Tylor. 
Tylor, in seeking the origin of religion, was endeavoring to get 
a clear view of the natural history of religion. He emphasized 
the psychology of the experience only that he might explain 
the genesis of the religious attitude. His chief interest was 
not philosophical, but historical and anthropological. He sought 
to ascertain the earliest form of religion and to explain the way 
in which that form arose. His problem was quite different 
from that set themselves by the philosophers of religion such 
as Miiller, Tiele, and more recently by Jastrow. For the 
morphological sociologist interested in the evolution of forms, 
Tylor and Spencer will have superior value. To the sociologist 


1 Hibbert Lectures, 1880, On the Origin and Growth of Religion, as illustrated by 
the Religions of India, p. 23; Theosophy, Gifford Lectures, Fourth Series, p. 480. 

2Tiele, Elements of the Science of Religion, Gifford Lectures, 1898, Vol. II, pp. 
208, 200, 230, 233. 


THE SOCIAL ORIGIN OF RELIGION 245 


with his chief interest in the philosophy or the psychology 
of religion, the other method of approach will appeal more 
strongly. 

Before leaving the history of the subject, two other writers 
more recent than any of these mentioned may be cited. One 
of these, Professor J. Mark Baldwin, approaches the subject 
of the origin of religion from the standpoint of psychological 
development; the other, Dr. King, views the origin of religion 
from the standpoint of group psychology with illustrations from 
anthropology and sociology. 

In approaching the inquiry concerning the origin of religious 
sentiment, Baldwin asks, ‘“‘ How do these sentiments arise and 
develop in the process of the personal growth of a child?” 
In general, his answer is that these sentiments arise in the child 
from the reverence, love, devotion, trust, and dependence which 
he feels towards those with whom he is immediately associated.! 
Out of these attitudes towards persons grow his feelings and 
sentiments towards an ultimate religious ideal. According to 
Baldwin, the development of the religious sentiments follows 
the development of personality. In the development of the 
child’s personality there is opened a facet that reflects other 
persons. In the interplay of his own personality and that of 
these other persons in his immediate environment there grows 
up what Baldwin calls “the ejective personality ” or ideal. 
That is, as he looks upon these other persons, he tends to ascribe 
to them characteristics and qualities which perhaps they do 
not possess, but which he feels they should possess. He finds 
in them some elements of his ideal. He feels that somewhere 
there must be a personality which contains all of these elements 
and characteristics. Consequently, out of this feeling there 
gradually develops the ideal personality in his own thoughts. 
On the other hand, just as the real person whom he knows here 
in life manifests to him attitudes which he does not expect, and 
yet which, when they are manifested, appeal to him as something 
better than he has ever thought of, so he comes to feel that 
this ideal personality will manifest attitudes which he does not 
expect, and with which he is not prepared to cope. This gives 
him the sentiments of awe, reverence, and fear. In this way, 
says Baldwin, the two elements in the religious sentiment de- 

1 Baldwin, Social and Ethical Interpretations, 1913, P. 337. 


246 OUTLINES OF SOCIOLOGY 


velop, — the feeling of dependency and the feeling of mystery. 
Both are the result of his contact and experience with other 
persons. 

In this same process, or, as Baldwin calls it, “ dialectic of 
personal growth,” both in the child and, Baldwin thinks, also 
in the race, the struggle of the human spirit with physical 
environment also arouses both the religious sentiment and reli- 
gious ideas... Whether it be in the child, dreadful of the dark, 
or in the primitive man, awed by the majestic display of the 
storm, the trembling of the earthquake, or the belching smoke 
and fire of the volcano, there is the same consciousness of the 
awe-inspiring fact pressing itself in upon the mind and stirring 
both the feeling of dependence and the feeling of mystery. 
Here are the feelings out of which may develop religious ideas 
and religious practices. Both in the child and in the race, says 
Baldwin, this fearsome stage is characterized chiefly by the 
sense of mystery and awe, and lasts only so long as these feelings 
are predominant over thought. When the child, or the primi- 
tive man, begins to question the rationale of these and other 
strange phenomena, ideas arise which may be described as at 
once philosophical, scientific, and religious. 

‘““What are these mighty forces in comparison with which I 
am such a pygmy?” thinks the child and the primitive man. 
‘What is their nature; how may I deal with them?” The 
only cause that either can understand is a personal cause. 
Therefore, to primitive man, these phenomena must seem to 
be the effects of personal volitions like those of himself and of 
his fellows. Consequently, he reads into these phenomena of 
nature, personality. His conception of this personality will 
be no different from his conception of other persons. He will 
interpret it largely in terms of activities and desires. The 
tumult of the heavens must denote anger, especially since he 
finds that out of the tumult come death and disaster. Strange 
mysterious sounds which fill the woods and plains about him 
must also be caused by beings like himself and his fellows. 
He personalizes, therefore, every strange, unknown force in 
nature which he identifies as the cause of some fear-inspiring 
phenomenon. 

Dr. King approaches the problem from the standpoint of 


1 Baldwin, Social and Ethical Interpretations, pp. 336-363. 


THE SOCIAL ORIGIN OF RELIGION 247 


group psychology. He analyzes the evolution of the conscious- 
ness of value in the mind of primitive man. Briefly stated, his 
theory is that the consciousness of value seems to be closely 
associated with, if not conditioned by, the various active atti- 
tudes of persons or groups of persons associated with active 
life processes developing or modified by social life. Among 
these are included all complications of activity whether due to 
chance variations accumulated mechanically, or to conscious 
adaptation to situations of stress or conflict. The religious 
attitude, according to King, is simply one phase of the result 
of the consciousness of value, ‘‘a special development of the 
valuational attitude,” as he puts it. Starting from the postu- 
late that the social body has been at least an important factor 
in the process of the development of valuational attitudes, 
he argues that many of the so-called highest religious conceptions, 
like those of God, Freedom, and Immortality, owe their existence 
to the influence of the social group upon the simpler values. 
As the atmosphere of the social group was an important aid 
in the development of language, so social surroundings influenced 
the development of religion. In general, his theory is that 
religion grew out of certain activities in which the group was 
interested, those activities which cluster about the problems 
and crises which affect the group as a whole. In proof of this, 
he cites Robertson Smith, who says that the primitive family 
thought of their gods as caring only for the tribe and not for 
the individual. Moreover, only those values which have the 
sanction of the group would be of permanent value to the 
individual. In accordance with this theory, therefore, King 
argues that wherever the social organization of a group is loose 
and ill defined, there the idea of religion will be indefinite and 
vague. Furthermore, the religious values of the group and 
of the individuals supporting it will be very closely connected 
with the life activities of that group. In groups where the 
problem of securing food is of serious interest there the reli- 
gious attitude will be connected with that activity, for example, 
with the fruiting of the date palm; or it is connected with a 
water course or a spring upon which the very existence of the 
group depends. He says, ‘‘We may hold that the religious 
aspects of a people’s life are special differentiations of the social 


1 King, The Development of Religion, p. 60. 


248 OUTLINES OF SOCIOLOGY 


order. which appear under certain favoring conditions.”’! At 
the close of harvest, moreover, or the end of a long winter, there 
is that intensity of feeling in the group that leads to certain 
functional activities. In the course of time these functional 
activities come to have religious value, because they bear upon 
the welfare of the group. Special customs, therefore, and 
habits of practical value to the welfare of the group often tend 
to establish themselves as religious practices. As an example 
he cites the connection of the care of milk with religious ritual 
among the Todas. He says that much of the dairy ritual has 
grown up as a means of counteracting the danger involved in 
giving the sacred substance milk to peoples whom they regard 
as inferior beings. This same people, the Todas, have other 
ceremonies which are directly connected with seasons of stress 
or of emotional tension. They are distinctly social in character 
and they may be supposed, says King, to be the outcome of 
such psychological conditions rather than to have been caused 
by any original religious motive. 

Summing up the discussion of certain of these religious fea- 
tures of the Todas and of the Semites, he says, “‘ In other words, 
the fundamental expedients of the life process, because they 
are of necessity carried on by groups of people, naturally gained 
many accretions from these people’s social and play impulses, 
and these accretions may become of almost more importance 
than the fundamental acts about which they gather even to the 
extent of obliterating them.”? In other words, then, accord- 
ing to King, the accumulation of habits in various directions 
is one of the first steps in the evolution of Religion. Now on 
the basis of this development of the consciousness of value in 
the minds of primitive men King builds his theory of ‘“ the 
Mysterious Power.”’ Belief in this Mysterious Power he holds 
to be the real significance of the forms of worship as found 
among primitive men. He believes that savages conceived it 
as an impersonal force filling the universe of which they must 
beware. It was something which they did not understand, and 
against which they stood on guard, frightened, curious, and 
fascinated. 


1King, The Development of Religion, p. 89. 
2Jbid., p. 125. 
8 Ibid., Chap. VI. 


THE SOCIAL ORIGIN OF RELIGION 249 


In summarizing the development of thought concerning the 
origin of religion up to the present time, we may note that be- 
ginning with Lucretius, followed by Hume, we have the general 
theory of fear, — Primos in orbe deos fecit timor. Tylor said 
that religion originated in fear of the spirit or spirits inhabiting 
all nature. Spencer specified the form of fear as the fear of the 
ghosts of ancestors. Baldwin adds the element of reverence 
developing in the process of growth by reason of the unexpected 
in other people. Giddings roots the origin of religion in awe 
of the Great Dreadful. King finds the origin in the psychological 
development of the consciousness of value growing out of the 
emotional stress connected with some crisis bearing upon sur- 
vival. In this evolution of thought there has developed two 
distinct methods of approach, the one from the standpoint of 
anthropology, the other from the standpoint of psychology. 
The significance of King’s contribution is that it combines 
both of these methods of approach and adds still another, namely, 
the social. These various methods of approach have helped 
greatly in tracing out the many ways in which religion has 
developed. We are certain of this, that religion developed 
from the interplay of the human mind and the external universe. 
The phenomena of the universe falls into two categories so far 
as they affect the human mind. The one is the world of un- 
reasoning nature, and the other is the world of men. 

The Origin of Religion. — Let us now synthesize the sug- 
gestions concerning the manner in which religious activities 
and ideas arose from man’s struggle with the problems pre- 
sented by this external universe. These problems are extremely 
complicated and their interrelations delicate. The human 
mind, struggling to find its way through the maze presented 
by the phenomena of nature, and the yet stranger and more 
intractable phenomena of human beings, creates the situation 
out of which grew religious practices, sentiments, and ideas. 
‘ We may suggest, therefore, that in its origin religion pursued 
some such course as the following: Primitive man, just emerg- 
ing from the animal world with a mind not much above that of 
the animal, looked out upon this universe with its savage forces, 
and its savage men, and was afraid. What he was afraid of 
he did not define. Its nature was unknown. He feared be- 
cause he did not understand the Great Dreadful which pressed 


250 OUTLINES OF SOCIOLOGY 


itself upon him and demanded that he take some attitude 
towards it. How should he interpret it, how should he act 
towards it? 

Even as an animal man had learned the meaning of superiority 
and inferiority, of prestige and submission. Some things, like 
his fellows, he had learned to understand. He had learned 
how to get on with his fellows. What more natural than that 
he should extend this method of understanding and of adjust- 
ment with his fellows to the natural phenomena around him 
which he did not understand, yet desired to propitiate? There- 
fore, he explained every strange, unknown thing in his experi- 
ence by his own feelings and the feelings of his fellow men. He 
treated these unknown things in the same way in which he had 
been able to get on with his fellow men. 

Moreover, man had the experience that the same methods 
which availed in securing the codperation of his fellow men had 
secured the codperation of animals. The process of domesti- 
cating certain of these animals had taught him that. His 
constant conflict with the wild animals about him even before 
domestication had begun, taught him also that the minds of 
these animals were somewhat like the minds of the men with 
whom he had to deal. If, therefore, he could live with men and 
deal with animals by following certain principles, what more 
logical than to conclude that the same methods would avail 
in his endeavor to understand and to propitiate other equally 
incomprehensible things about him in the universe? 

This attitude is preserved through man’s whole life and all 
his activities. Without a conception of impersonal causation 
he necessarily personalized every real and supposed cause. If 
the thing that produces this result is a person, it must neces- 
sarily be a person like those he knows. It is a person of love 
and of hate, a strange, mysterious power with which he must 
deal in some way. If angry, this power must be placated. 
The only way that suggests itself is the method which placates 
human beings when angry. Hence all nature is conceived 
by man as being filled with spirits like himself. His own per- 
sonality is no less a mystery to him than the phenomena and 
events of nature. He shouts; a voice mocks him from the 
hills or forests; he leans down over the pool to drink, and be- 
hold, out from its depths there looks up at him a face like his 


THE SOCIAL ORIGIN OF RELIGION 251 


own or like that of his fellows who may be with him. He 
sleeps and dreams, and in those dreams he goes far away and 
performs various actions. He awakes, behold, he is where 
he lay down to sleep. On other occasions he sleeps and walks 
about in his sleep until he strikes some object and awakes. 
Therefore, these dream experiences, he argues, in which he 
walks and talks are real experiences. How can this be? How 
can one both sleep and walk abroad at the same time? His 
only explanation is a conviction gathered from all these observa- 
tions that he is a double personality. One of his selves remains, 
while he sleeps, and the other walks abroad. Hehas a spirit, there- 
fore. This spirit, when he is awake, is his constant companion. 
When sleeping or in an ecstasy or a swoon, this double departs 
from his body and walks abroad. It is invisible; seek howso- 
ever hard he may, he cannot find it; yet here is the incontest- 
able evidence of its existence. It is a spirit more or less like 
this that inhabits all nature, he concludes. It is a person with 
personal characteristics like himself and his fellows. It loves, it 
hates, it has appetites and passions, it becomes angry, it desires 
gifts, it is subject to caprices like himself, therefore it is some- 
thing of which to stand in awe and with which to come to terms. 

Then there is the strange, mysterious fact of death. Every 
evidence we can gather from primitive peoples who have reached 
the stage when they reflect upon events at all shows their con- 
cern about death. Constantly in the midst of savage forces 
which civilization has either destroyed or shackled and tamed 
for the service of man, primitive man seldom died a natural 
death. When he did live to die such a death, it was a strange 
phenomenon and was to be explained by some occult means.! 
Usually he died before the evil days of old age had come when he 
could say he had no pleasure in them, while life was still sweet, 
and death seemed not a relief, but a calamity. Wild animals, 
or still wilder men, lay in wait for him at every turn. The 
natural, instinctive fear of death was ever upon him. When he 
thought of these things the question naturally arose, What is 
death? Where could he look for an answer but to other experi- 
ences which seem very like death? He slept and awoke. Some- 
times a man was smitten in fight and lay unconscious for a time 
and revived again. Occasionally one fell in a swoon or ecstasy 

1 Lubbock, Origin of Civilization, p. 133. 


252 OUTLINES OF SOCIOLOGY 


and when he revived he told of the things he had seen and heard. 
Was not death like sleep, swoon, or ecstasy, except that the 
absence of the soul from the body was more prolonged? In 
death man’s other self was alive elsewhere, seeing, enjoying, 
knowing, and with the same appetites and passions, likes and 
dislikes, as when present in the body. 

Then some untoward event occurred which had no apparent 
cause. Some dead person must be displeased. When alive 
such a person had wreaked vengeance when offended; now dead, 
he had become angry and must be appeased in the same way as 
when living. Perhaps the dead man had been some great 
chief. If society had become strongly centralized and control 
was rigid, the person to be appeased was naturally supposed 
to be an ancestor, the natural ruler of the group. He was 
feared in death as much as he had been honored in life, — even 
more, because less was known about him when dead than when 
living, and therefore he was more mysterious and awful. Thus 
ancestor worship arose. 

In these ways the first incongruous religious ideas struggled to 
expression. ‘They are full of contradiction like the thoughts of 
primitive man or like the thoughts of the child who is just 
beginning to think. These ideas, like the sentiments and emo- 
tions aroused by his contact with the universe of things and men, 
are not clearly defined, but often are a jumble. They are, 
however, the first struggling efforts to relieve an unpleasant 
situation by activity of some sort, the first gleams of an explana- 
tion of the world in the midst of which man lives and the first 
blundering attempt at a method whereby he may bring it 
under his control. As already suggested, they are reflections 
of the social universe of which he was a part. Their patterns 
are to be found in his own soul and in the souls of those with 
whom he is in contact — the group of which he is a part. The 
gods that he makes for himself are like unto himself and his 
fellows, only greater, more powerful, more wise, and less under- 
standable than they. 

Summarizing the way in which religious practices arise, we 
may say that the practical results of this contact of primitive 
man with nature and men was the invention of religious practices. 
They begin with men. As a child grows and comes in contact 
with other personalities, he learns to accommodate himself to 


THE SOCIAL ORIGIN OF RELIGION 253 


them. By doing certain deeds he comes to terms with these 
personalities. He finds that certain things please them, while 
others displease them. Out of this perpetual surprise of experi- 
ence, he learns what to do when he wishes the favor of the other 
person. On the basis of this experience he generalizes and adopts 
a code of practice which suits all persons. Now, believing as 
he does that natural phenomena are caused by persons, he will 
adopt the same practice in dealing with the spirit of the mountain 
or the spirit of the storm as he does in dealing with men. The 
beings who control these phenomena must be like the beings 
with which he is acquainted, therefore he adopts certain atti- 
tudes toward them, placates them by gifts, assuages their 
anger or pleases their vanity and secures their favor by praise 
and prayer. 

The Complexity of the Problem. — This survey has certainly 
made it apparent that the endeavor to find the origin of religion 
in some one simple fact such as the desire for union with the 
deity as suggested by Ross is like the quarrel as to whether man 
is material or spiritual. Light is thrown upon the way in which 
religious sentiments develop by a genetic study of its develop- 
ment in the child and in the race. The process is further illu- 
minated by a psychological analysis of this sentiment into awe 
and reverence, feeling of dependence, affection, etc. The forms 
of religious practice and their accompanying sentiments found 
among various primitive people make it quite possible to recon- 
struct the early religious feelings, ideas, and practices, and to 
retrace essentially the paths along which they have developed. 
Are the religious ideas attributed to primitive man indefinite? 
Do they lack the transparency of meaning which we demand? 
They were the first crude efforts of mankind, it must be remem- 
bered, to come to an understanding of the universe. How 
often the thoughts of even the cultivated man, when they first 
struggle forth to birth, are vague and lack clearness. Animism 
is a philosophy of the world which very well fits the mental 
equipment of primitive man and his lack of that precious heri- 
tage of civilized man, the treasured-up discoveries of the ages 
of civilization. Ancestor worship is most natural after a cer- 
tain mental development has been reached, and certain social rela- 
tionships, like a strong family tie, have been established. Sacri- 
fices to the ancestral spirits with all their social consequences, 


254 OUTLINES OF SOCIOLOGY 


like female infanticide, early marriage, and overpopulation, 
are natural and fitting rites when the center of social control 
is a dominating personality. 

The Genius and the Origin of Religion. — In discussing reli- 
gious origins, the far-seeing man must not be forgotten. We 
know that historic religions have owed very much to their 
“founders,” those prophets and seers to whom was revealed 
the vision denied to their fellows. What would the Hebrew 
religion have been without the prophets Amos, Hosea, and 
Isaiah? What would Christianity have been without its Jesus, 
its Paul, its St. Augustine, its Cyprian, its Calixtus, its St. 
Francis of Assisi, its Wesley, its Luther, its Cardinal Newman, 
and Pope Leo XIII? Can you imagine the rise of Islam with- 
out Mohammed, or of Buddhism without Gautama? Doubt- 
less the time was ripe in each case, the age was awaiting the 
man who saw the harvest ripening. But the man who among 
the thousands of those days thrust in the sickle to the golden 
grain — what would have happened without him? Without 
a doubt the age would have declined and passed on into another 
without a crisis and without the dramatic evolution which 
each of these leaders put in motion. The world would have 
waited for a leader. 

Now, while the facts lie hidden in the dim mists of the pre- 
historic, is there much probability that the man of genius as- 
sumed an importance in social attention and leadership only 
after history had lifted the curtain from the unknown past? 
No, for out of those shadows of the prehistoric dim figures of 
leaders in those days appear in fables and myths which have 
survived. There is Prometheus, who stole fire from the gods 
and shared it with men, and for his high presumption was 
condemned to spend his eternities chained to the fastnesses 
of Asia Minor, with the eagle forever tearing at his vitals. Out 
of the shadows of Hebrew memories there flits for a moment the 
heroic figure of Tubal-Cain, the first worker in metals. These 
and a few others mentioned in folk legends show that in the 
morning of social development there existed the leader at least 
in the arts and religion. We must assume the work of gifted 
individuals to explain the origin of religious ideas, emotions, 
and practices. They led the way and quickened the pace for 
whole peoples. Every people had its great men, but some had 


THE SOCIAL ORIGIN OF RELIGION 255 


superior leaders in religion and their history was meteoric as 
compared with that of others. Israel is an example. In pre- 
prophetic times the religion of Israel was much like that of 
her neighbors —a compound of nature worship and ancestor 
worship, celebrated under every green tree and upon every high 
hill by a cult that was largely ceremony and in which was min- 
gled much that from our point of view was sensual and unethical. 
She had her seers who were but little, if at all, removed from 
the medicine men of modern savage tribes. Her priests served 
for hire and supported the reigning house no matter what its 
sins. Into that religious world burst the prophet Amos, with 
a voice that was entirely new, with a message that scandalized 
the nation and that found no response at the time save in a few 
hearts. Followed by men like Hosea, Isaiah, and Jeremiah, 
he turned the whole current of religious life into new channels. 
Without the prophets of that time the teachings of Jesus and 
Paul, humanly speaking, would have been impossible. We hear 
that Israel had a genius for religion! If she had, it was born 
of the work of those eighth-century prophets and their followers, 
and fostered by the circumstances of her later history. It 
was a legitimate offspring of prophetic vision and national 
suffering. Similar men of lesser vision, but of greater signifi- 
cance, have appeared elsewhere. Who can deny that the 
animistic interpretation of the universe and the religious awe 
that accompanied it arose from keen-witted primitive men who 
saw better than their fellows! Or, again, what more natural 
than that with the change in the form of the family, some 
brooding savage should visualize the dead ancestor’s spirit 
hovering near with good or ill intent as in life. The presump- 
tion, from all that we know of history, is that the great man, 
the religious genius, was there in the beginning as in the later 
development. 

Given, therefore, untutored man, knowing only his relation- 
ships with his fellows, growing up in the midst of a nature which 
he did not understand, but having some conception of social 
relationships and feeling an absolute necessity of understanding, 
and coming to terms with the world in which he lived, and, finally, 
given the superior person, the superior mind, we have the ele- 
ments out of which could naturally grow that awe and rever- 
ence and, finally, that love, that make religion. 


256 OUTLINES OF SOCIOLOGY 


REFERENCES 


BALDWIN, J. MARK. Social and Ethical Interpretations, 1913, pp. 336-366. 

CLopp, Epwin. The Childhood of the World, Chaps. XXIII-XXVII, 
XXXII. 

Exttwoop, C. A. The Social Problem, pp. 68-71; 203-206. 

Kine, Irvinc. The Development of Religion, 1910, Chaps. I-VI. 

LUBBOCK, SiR JOHN. Origin of Civilization, 1874, Chaps. IV-VI. 

SPENCER, HERBERT. Principles of Sociology, Vol. I, Chaps. VILI-XXVI. 

STARR, FREDERICK. Some First Steps in Human Progress, Chaps. XXIV, 
XXV. 

Tytor, Epwarp. Primitive Culture, Chaps. XI-XVII. 

Tytor, Epwarp. Anthropology, 1889, Chap. XIV. 


QUESTIONS AND EXERCISES 


1. Of what social importance is the study of the origin of religion? 

2. If possible, observe a little child and note carefully how its conceptions 
of religion originate and develop. 

3. Converse with a half dozen children of different ages in the public 
schools or among your acquaintances, and ascertain and write down their 
conception of God. Notice what are the conceptions which seem to be 
derived from the teaching of others and what are those that they naturally 
reason out for themselves. 

4. How does the conception of the Deists in regard to the origin of reli- 
gion differ from that of modern scholars? 

5. By introspection try to retrace the steps in the development of your 
own religious conceptions, apart from what you were taught by others. 

6. Write out a clear definition of what Tylor meant by animism. 

7. How did Herbert Spencer’s theory of the origin of religion differ from 
Tylor’s? 

8. Try to ascertain the religious conceptions of a number of your friends 
or acquaintances among people of ordinary intelligence, but without any 
advanced education. Which of these ideas can you trace as being survivals 
from primitive originals ? 

9. In what senses is religion a reflection of social usages and practices? 

to. Note the religious ideas and practices current in some one church with 
which you are acquainted and estimate which of these are survivals from an 
earlier type of religion. 

11. Make a list of the things that children fear in the dark. Explain 
why they fear these things. 


CHAPTER XIII 


THE DEVELOPMENT OF RELIGION 


Crude and Meager Nature of Primitive Religious Practice. — 
Religion expresses itself in slowly evolving institutions. While 
in some form it was a persistent accompaniment of early human 
association, its first expressions were crude and lacking in defi- 
nite organization. Yet no tribes have been found without reli- 
gious ideas. Certain explorers have visited tribes and after 
a superficial investigation have declared them without religious 
ideas or practice. But afterwards, upon more careful investi- 
gation, this has been found false. Deception being the normal 
practice of tribal life, it is quite impossible to find out the reli- 
gious life of a savage or barbaric people upon a short acquaint- 
ance. Indeed, after long study of the tribal life of the savage, 
by people who have resided among them, it has been difficult 
to define clearly their religious views and practices. 

An early religious notion is found in the conception of a 
spiritual life or being! Arising in the ways indicated in the 
previous chapter, the religious attitude worked itself out through 
multitudinous forms in the history of man’s development. To 
begin with, this attitude was a practical one, growing out of 
the necessity felt by primitive man to control his environment 
in the interests of his own safety. Convinced that each indi- 
vidual had a dual life, primitive man made that belief the un- 
differentiated starting point for a long and varied development 
of both religious ideas and practices and.of a theory of the 
world. Once having determined that the individual was a 
dual personality and that natural objects had, like man, a spirit 
which caused them to move and have their being, it was easy 
to account for all the various effects in nature, whose causes 
could not be observed, by attributing them to an unseen power, 
namely, to this spirit. The influence of the belief in this imag- 
inary being upon the thoughts and sentiments of individuals 


1See Tylor, Primitive Culture, Vol. I, p. 22. 
Ss 257 


258 OUTLINES OF SOCIOLOGY 


was very great. It influenced the individual in his actions and 
in his relations to his fellow beings. ‘The relation of this spirit 
to natural objects finally led to a rude form of nature worship. 
The spirits were multiplied with a growing keenness of percep- 
tion as to differences between the various kinds of natural 
objects and the different phenomena connected with each, 
in accordance with the activities of nature and the things that 
were conceivable to be done. The savage mind rapidly passed 
from a state of unorganized superstition to that of an organized 
superstition. With the growth of social organization and activi- 
ties primitive man likewise developed his pantheon. When 
one group conquered another or amalgamated peacefully with 
another, there occurred also a coalescence of the religious notions. 
If it was a case of conquest, the gods of the conquerors were 
exalted above those of the conquered and the latter became 
lesser deities in the pantheon or were outlawed and became the 
gods of secret cults and sectarians. An example is furnished 
of the former case by what occurred when the Latins conquered 
the adjacent tribes, of the latter by the history of Israel on the 
establishment of the Davidic kingdom. Finally, wherever 
the development went on to completion one god stands out 
supreme. How closely it may come to be associated with the 
earthly ruler is shown by the fact that sacrifice to the genius 
of the emperor, not to Jupiter, was the supreme test to which 
persecuted Jews and Christians ultimately were forced to sub- 
mit. In the case of the later Hebrews, owing to the peculiar 
circumstances of the Exile and to a few choice spirits among 
the Exilic prophets, monotheism pure and simple developed. 
Among most other peoples the development never went beyond 
henotheism, or a belief that there was only one god for each 
nation, but that each nation had a different god. 

In the early stages of religious development it was but natural 
for primitive man to think that if these spirits had power to 
do so much for the destruction or salvation of man, they must 
be sought out and managed. Hence came the idea of manipu- 
lating or exorcising the spirits for man’s welfare. Offerings were 
chosen and actions observed that were supposed to please the 
spirit. Food was given, ceremonies performed, and the conduct 
of the tribe modified to please these unseen powers. 

Then it appeared that there were good spirits who had the 


THE DEVELOPMENT OF RELIGION 259 


preservation of the tribe in view, and others who desired its 
destruction. ‘The former must be worshiped and praised for 
their goodness and the latter appeased by gifts and offerings 
and turned away from their intended destruction. Out of 
this idea come the subsequent conception of bright and happy 
spirits and a happy eternal home into which man would be 
conducted after death, and the idea of evil, destructive spirits 
who would attempt to lead man into a land of darkness and 
torture. 

The Services of Medicine Man and Priest. — Out of the 
belief in unfriendly spirits grew one of the most remarkable 
influences in primitive social control, the medicine man or 
priest. In the management of spirits some men pretended to 
have more power than others. Once recognized as having 
superior power, these assumed a monopoly of influence over 
the spirits. Owing to the fact that it was thought that disease 
was an affliction of an evil spirit, the person who managed the 
evil spirit was the only one who could cure the disease, and so 
the services of priest and doctor were united in one person, 
the medicine man. Later these functions became divided and 
the priest attended to the affairs of religious worship and the 
medicine man to the cure of disease. But this separation came 
about very slowly, for the belief of the connection of disease with 
evil spirits has been very persistent in social evolution, as the 
belief in demon possession and witchcraft not only in New 
Testament times, but down through the ages to a very recent 
period, demonstrates. 

The most significant fact concerning it in this connection 
is that the medicine man had power to control the whole tribe 
through his supposed connection with unseen forces or spirits 
of the air. Whatever he declared the spirits had ordered had 
to be performed. He always had the first claim on the food 
supply of the tribe and learned early to cause others to attend 
to his wants. This method of social control increased with 
the development of religion until in barbaric and semicivilized 
nations it became the most important ruling power in the gov- 
ernment. Priestcraft in Egypt, in Assyria, in Palestine, and 
in Medieval Europe became the most potent force in social 
order. Even in modern civilization the power of priests and 
clergy has manifested itself in the government of nations. 


260 OUTLINES OF SOCIOLOGY 


Out of this functionary has grown the minister of religion, 
the statesman, the educator, the physician, and the judge. 
Once the medicine man was all these and more. More skillful 
than others in legerdemain, ventriloquism, and in thought 
reading, he obtained great power over the people in every way. 
He was a master of sorcery at first, having power to help or 
injure those who sought his aid or to injure those against whom 
he directed his machinations. Later one by one his many func- 
tions were assumed by others. Priest and healer he long re- 
mained. Many survivals of his power still remain with us. 
Clairvoyance and fortune telling, as well as the nobler and 
entirely Christian act of intercessory prayer, are examples. 

Religious Forms and Ceremonies. — Religious rites, though 
influenced to a certain extent by individuals of superior gifts 
and extraordinary shrewdness, developed independently of 
them, as a social institution. The fact of death had great 
influence upon the development of religious ceremonies. The 
belief in the continued journey of the spirit after death led to 
the practice of burial ceremonies, and this practice aided devel- 
opment of social order. The custom of placing clothing and 
implements in the grave for the departed spirit, and the bringing 
of food to the grave for its sustenance brought the members 
of a community to a common meeting place, gave them a com- 
mon social ideal, and developed more or less a regular order of 
procedure. 

Whether originating in reverence and awe for some striking 
natural object, animal, or some natural function closely con- 
nected with the survival of the group, like a symbolic fruit 
or the reproductive process and organs, or in reverence rendered 
to the spirit of a departed ancestor, the group’s religious activi- 
ties were centered about a common object by means of common 
interests and therefrom developed common feelings and actions 
in other than religious concerns. Gradually these customs 
brought about permanent religious services because of the con- 
nection which the controlling spirit had with these ordinances. 
The idea of fear on the one hand and of worship on the other 
arose in the attempt to favor the spirit. In the case of ancestor 
worship an appeal to the spirit or god for safety of the departed 
led to prayer and the attempt to please him in order to receive 
favors gave rise to worship, while the attempt to manage an 


THE DEVELOPMENT OF RELIGION 261 


evil spirit led to necromancy. Sometimes the spirit of the 
mountain was identified with the spirit of a dead ancestor. 
Comparatively simple acts grew more and more into ceremony 
and were attended with increased pageantry. With the devel- 
opment of pomp and ceremonies in approaching the ruler and 
securing favors from him went growth in the richness of religious 
rites. The psychology of “the majesty that doth hedge a 
throne”’ has not yet been carefully worked out, but there is 
no doubt that very early in the history of social development 
the chief learned its practical value, how to create and enhance 
it in the eyes of his subjects, and the latter found ways of flatter- 
ing the great by devising somewhat more elaborate forms of 
reverence and ever more extravagant terms of praise. 

Sacred Places and Natural Phenomena. — Animism, or the 
belief that the spirit life manifested itself in natural phenomena, 
led to the supposition that all the various forces appearing in 
nature were in activity in response to the will of various spirits, 
and was one idea from which developed the theory of sacred 
places. The worship of the several forms of nature was merely 
a worship of the spirits that dwelt in these forms, for nature 
worship was nothing more than spirit worship localized in the 
various objects of nature. Sometimes it was localized in a high 
mountain or hill, again it was a lonely or majestic tree, in other 
cases in a rock standing out alone or of peculiar formation, and 
sometimes in an animal from which the tribe was supposed to 
be descended. First there developed clan sanctuaries, then a 
central sanctuary, and when the nation evolved there grew up 
the national sanctuary. There were also family sanctuaries 
out of which later evolved household worship. These meeting 
places were the foundations of the church or temple. Cabrillo 
relates that while on his voyage in 1542 he saw the Indians of 
the Pacific coast come in their bands around a small inclosure. 
The inclosure was made by driving stakes in the ground, a 
partition was made in the center, and on this partition was a 
sort of shelf where feathers of sacred birds were deposited. 
The Indians came leaping around this inclosure in a sort of 
ceremonial order. Finally, one of them, the priest or medicine 
man, left their ranks and went within the inclosure and adjusted - 
the sacred feathers and placed more there, at the same time 
going through certain ceremonial acts. This represented the 


262 OUTLINES OF SOCIOLOGY 


primitive meeting place of the spirits that the Indians came to 
worship. The ceremony over, they all went away to other 
pursuits. 

It is in accord with the habits of early man that Abraham, 
when he came out of Haran to Bethel, erected an altar of stones 
and placed thereon the burnt offering. It was a “ house of 
God ”’ where he came to commune with the spirit of God and 
to worship him. When he returned out of Egypt he came to 
this place to meet God. Gradually the stone or tree was re- 
placed by a tent sheltering some sacred casket containing sacred 
objects, and then an immovable chapel or temple located over 
or beside a sacred stone or spring or other holy object. So, too, 
the Greeks had their temples and the Egyptians their meeting 
places with the gods. Perhaps the best illustrations furnished 
by historic peoples of this evolution of the sacred place with 
all that it meant for the development of rite and ceremony, 
as well as of ideas of deity, are to be found in the evolution of 
the sanctuary in Ancient Israel and in Rome. ‘The people of 
Israel who as clansmen worshiped one very high hill and under 
every green tree, under the influence of the priests of the royal 
chapel and, finally, of the eighth-century prophets came finally 
to concentrate their worship in the national sanctuary at Jeru- 
salem so that ultimately sacrifice was permitted only there. 
The development among the Roman people is almost as clear 
and instructive. This primitive worship was at first merely 
an attempt to please God in order to receive his favor, or to 
appease his wrath in order to prevent the destruction of the 
tribe. Later it developed into worship, through prayer an 
appeal for strength and aid, not only for the individual, but for 
the tribe and nation. Primitive people prayed to their gods 
to give them victory in war, bountiful harvests, and prosperity 
in every way. .Even yet most prayers have such “ practical ” 
ends in view. With the development, however, of an appre- 
ciation of the relation of religion to ethical conduct, less em- 
phasis has been laid on the attainment of ‘‘ material ”’ benefits 
and more on character growth. 

Complexity of Belief and Ceremony. — Religious beliefs 
and religious ceremonies grow more complex with the develop- 
ment of social relationships and complexity of social organiza- 
tion. This is strikingly observed in the development of mythol- 


THE DEVELOPMENT OF RELIGION 263 


ogy and polytheism. It became necessary to account for every 
act of the tribe or race by reference to the deeds of ancestral 
spirits and every phenomenon of nature as produced by some 
spiritual being controlled by a spiritual power. The origin of 
the earth and the universe had to be accounted for, and there 
was no other way except by attributing it to the workings of 
an unseen power. This developed numberless gods with dif- 
ferent powers, capabilities, and services. Numerous stories 
or myths concerning the actions of gods and their relations to 
mankind arose. These stories occupied the minds and influ- 
enced not only the beliefs but the actions of men. Following 
the development of polytheistic religions came the more recent 
ethical religions. In these the relations of individuals and 
groups to each other are most strongly developed. In the non- 
ethical religion the relation of the tribe or the individual to the 
gods was the important feature. While the ethical religion 
does not ignore this relationship, it goes farther and establishes 
moral relationship of individuals with each other. To the 
prophets of the eighth century Israel owed the development of 
an ethical religion. It was they who declared that Jahweh, 
their God, was more pleased with them for restoring the pledge 
to the poor, ceasing oppression, doing justice with lovingkind- 
ness, and walking in humbleness than for giving their first- 
born to redeem their transgressions, the fruit of their bodies 
for the sin of their souls. With an assurance that carried con- 
viction and an insistence which brooked no gainsaying, Amos 
urged Jahweh’s ethical claims with, “‘ Take thou away from me 
the noise of thy songs; for I will not hear the melody of thy 
viols. But let justice roll down as waters and righteousness 
as a mighty stream.’”?!_ The same conviction inspired Hosea, 
Isaiah, and Micah.? Growing out of the insistence of these 
prophets and their followers we have the development of the 
legal-ethical religion of the Hebrew, in which the duty of indi- 
viduals one to another finally is formally stated in the law of 
the nation. Growing out of the prophetic Hebrew religion has 
come a humanitarian, ethical religion in which the law of love 
prevails. In its recent development, the humanitarian idea 
seems to grow relatively stronger and the relationship of man 


1 Amos 5: 23, 24. 
* See Hos. 2: 11, 4: 1-3, 10:12; Is. 1: 10-17; Mic. 3: 9-12, 6: 6-8. 


264 OUTLINES OF SOCIOLOGY 


to God less important. Whether that is a permanent or merely a 
passing phase of religious development, it is too early yet to say. 

Religion and Social Progress. — There has been a wide dif- 
ference of opinion as to the influence of religion on the progress 
of civilization, but scholars are coming to an agreement that 
this influence has been a strong factor in the development of 
society. If we look to the early forms of culture, we shall find 
every one of them closely interwoven with religious beliefs. 
Being associated with every time of crisis in the life of primitive 
man, religion has been a most important spur to mental and 
physical activity. It provided a working hypothesis to his 
groping mind and thus introduced order into the chaos of his 
thought. It bound the energies of the savage which were 
being expended in anti-social ways, on the one hand, and on the 
other loosed those energies in activities, mental and physical, 
which ministered to the welfare of the group. For example, 
by causing him to act in acrisis religion spurred him to a series 
of experiments with nature which has not yet been exhausted. 
While the hypothesis with which it supplied man has been mod- 
ified many times, by proceeding upon it he laid in experience the 
basis of a better. It provided him, furthermore, a basis upon 
which he began his significant attempts to alter the environment 
for the welfare of his group and himself, and to bend other 
men to his will, not by physical force, but by spiritual devices. 
While from the modern standpoint it enthralled him in activities 
which later impeded his progress, in his early history it gave 
spur to his otherwise undeveloped tendencies to help his fel- 
lows. ‘The feelings, thoughts, and activities of primitive people 
clustered around religious life. The well-established customs 
of primitive society were all founded on religion. While we 
may consider much of this religious belief as false, and, in many 
instances, degrading, nevertheless, it called forth feeling and 
mental action in the struggle for existence. Simple as this 
life may appear, still it served as a stimulus to the simple mind 
of primitive people. Besides aiding in the establishment of 
ordinary custom it had a powerful influence in the develop- 
ment of intellectual and moral character. In the first place 
the mind was strengthened by positive belief. Belief led to 
more definite relationships of the life of the individual and so- 
ciety. Also, in the attempt of the individual to contemplate 


THE DEVELOPMENT OF RELIGION 265 


the phenomena of an unknown world, religion became a posi- 
tive necessity. Imagine an individual suddenly brought into 
contact with the activities and appearances of natural life with- 
out any knowledge or experience or instruction. The effects 
are startling and appalling, he sees the flash of lightning, he 
hears the thunder, observes the storm and the destructiveness 
of the roaring torrent, the change of seasons, the movement 
of the heavenly bodies, the growth of plants and animals, and 
all the manifestations of sun and air and moisture, and yet he 
understands not one of all these phenomena. The moment his 
mind begins to inquire, his childish nature is satisfied by attrib- 
uting these activities to the doings of an unseen power, a 
spirit, a god. The beginnings of speculation as to the nature 
of the universe which has its fruitage in modern science, orig- 
inated in primitive religion. And so in the childhood of the 
race religion served a similar purpose to that of science in the 
more developed social life of the present. It is poor food for 
the mind of the fully developed man, but it was a fitting food 
to the ignorant, superstitious creature of primitive times. 
Religion a Strong Factor in Society Building. — What con- 
cerns the sociologist most is the influence of religion in the de- 
velopment of social organization.! In the first place religion 
has always been connected with social order. The control of 
families, tribes, groups, and even nations, has been brought 
about through religious influence. Religion has lent a power- 
ful sanction to virtue and morality, for it has established the 
relationship of individuals in the home as well as in matri- 
monial life. Long before politics and civil law could be es- 
tablished, religion had made the customs that preserved the 
equilibrium of the social group. It has always fostered a vague 
belief in immortality. Whether in its crude form as held by 
the primitive savage or in its perfected state, it has had more or 
less influence in the control of human society. In its early 
form it inspired fear and thus controlled social action, while 
in its later development the idea of immortality inspires hope 
and faith and courage, — strong elements, indeed, in the de- 
velopment of man. Again, it has strengthened patriotic feel- 
ing on account of its local character. The religion of the family 
developed family pride and glory, relating ancestors to gods. 
1 See Ward, Dynamic Sociology, Vol. II, p. 279. 


266 OUTLINES OF SOCIOLOGY 


When the tribes expanded into a national life the god of the 
nation led the hosts in battle, preserved their lives and integrity. 
And thus the idea became an inspiration to patriotic life. In 
upholding the central authority of the head of the family social 
order was developed. There was established on one side the 
governing class, on the other the governed. Thus people 
learned to rule and to obey, to command and to serve. By 
surrounding them with formal ceremonies, religion tended to 
purify the family and other domestic institutions and to pre- 
serve the family intact. 

On the other hand, in modern times religion has at times 
been a coercive weapon of reaction, and has opposed the newer 
developments in society which had for their aim the betterment 
of society. What aspirations of earnest souls struggling to 
express a newly discovered truth has it not tried to crush! 
How often have religious institutions been found on the side 
of reaction in the struggle for freedom! Even in ancient 
Israel, as Cornill! has remarked, the outcome of the Prophetic 
religion was to crush the free spirit of the common people and 
to bind upon them the rites and ideas of the religion of the nar- 
row party of Jerusalem. It paved the way for the priestly 
domination of the following centuries, and had a share in pre- 
paring for the hateful spirit of the Pharisee. In early Chris- 
tian times ecclesiasticism crushed the free spirit of the Monta- 
nist, drove into ecclesiastical exile that early forerunner of 
untrammeled thought, the Gnostic, under the leadership of such 
men as Cyprian and Calixtus narrowed the church to a sect, 
and bound it with the hard bonds of a party domination. It 
throttled free inquiry in the Middle Ages, making independent 
thinking a heresy, and laid the foundation of a revolt which has 
rent the world into hundreds of warring factions. It forced 
Galileo to recant his carefully established convictions that 
the earth moves round the sun, retarded the development of 
science, threw water upon the flaming aspirations of scholars 
and stifled the democratic longings of the common people. 
Clothed with the garments of ecclesiasticism in more recent 
times men anathematized such truth seekers as Darwin and 
Huxley and belittled God’s records written in the rocks and in 
the bodies of animals and men. Too often through its well- 

1 The Prophets of Israel, 1904, pp. 83-90. 


THE DEVELOPMENT OF RELIGION 267 


meaning but benighted representatives, religion has mocked 
the findings of careful and conscientious scholars, stood with 
the representatives of arrant wrong against those who in love 
of the truth have battled for the rights of the people. Never- 
theless, such an attitude represents but one side of the work of 
religion, the conservative side. Even that side is needed in 
society, as a stabilizing force. One must never forget, more- 
over, that some of the mightiest revolutions have been inspired 
by religious innovators. The Hebrew prophets, Jesus and 
Paul, Mohammed and Buddha, — who shall say of them and 
of the movements they inspired that they did not give the race 
a great impetus toward progressive development ? 

The chief influence of religion on the individual was largely 
subjective. In the first place it gave him an ideal. It pointed 
out something towards which he might direct his energies and 
gave him inspiration to reach this well-defined goal. Finally, 
when he had clothed the spirit he feared with certain attributes 
of power, he strove to become like it. But more than all, on 
account of service to an authority and to a superior, he trained 
himself in the arts of social life. For each individual that im- 
proves must learn first to serve. It may be to serve an indi- 
vidual, or a human desire, or an ideal. In all service he subdues 
and masters himself through effort, and that effort made man. 


REFERENCES 


BaLpwin, J. M. Social and Ethical Interpretations, 1913, pp. 443-455. 

BLackMAR, F. W. Story of Human Progress, pp. 200-211. 

DENNIS, JAMES S. Christian Missions and Social Progress, Vol. I, pp. 1-60. 

Extwoop, C. A. “The Social Function of Religion,” American Journal of 
Sociology, Vol. XIX, p. 289, Nov., 1913. 

GuizoTt, F. P. G. History of Civilization, Vol. I, pp. 103-149. 

HEARN, W.E. Aryan Household, pp. 1-38. 

Kipp, BENJAMIN. Social Evolution, pp. 1-117. 

Kine, Irvinc. The Development of Religion, Chaps. XTI-XIII. 

LETOURNEAU, CHARLES. Sociology, pp. 217-248, 319-326. 

PEscHEL, O. The Races of Man, pp. 245-318. 

RATZEL, FrrEpricu. The History of Mankind, Vol. I, pp. 38-65. 

Ross, E. A. Social Control, pp. 126-145. 

SPENCER, HERBERT. Principles of Sociology, Vol. III, pp. 3-36. 

TARDE, GABRIEL. Les lois de l’imitation, pp. 291-314. 

Tytor, E. B. Primitive Culture, Vol. I, pp. 417-502; Anthropology, pp. 

342-372. 
Warp, LEsTER F. Dynamic Sociology, Vol. I, pp. 686-706; Vol. II, p. 279. 


268 OUTLINES OF SOCIOLOGY 


QUESTIONS AND EXERCISES 


1. Trace the development of religious ideas, religious practices, and 
changes in the organization of some one denomination or religion with 
which you are acquainted. 

2. What changes, if any, have you observed occurring in the nature of 
the public meetings in the church which you attended in childhood? 

3. What part did the Hebrew prophets of the eighth century B.c. play in 
the development of the Hebrew religion? 

4. In what respects does the medicine man differ from the modern minis- 
ter of religion? How does he differ from the physician ? 

5. Trace the development of prayer from its origin in flattery to a superior 
to its highest form known to-day. 

6. What survivals from ancestor worship may be found in religious ideas 
to-day ? 

7. Trace the evolution of the sacred place into the church. 

8. Why are some people afraid to go into a dark church at night? 

9. Show how religion has affected human progress both as a favoring 
influence and as a hindrance to progress. Give concrete historic instances. 

10. State the ways in which religion is a help to social progress at the pres- 
ent time. In which it is a hindrance. 

11. What steps could the churches of your town take to hasten social 
progress? What problems could the church be most useful in attacking 
with the hope of solving? 


PART THREE 
SOCIALIZATION AND SOCIAL CONTROL 


aii ah ee 


tae Phi { ; be } 





CHAPTER I 


PROCESSES OF SOCIALIZATION 


THE processes by which society is changed from a simple, 
unorganized state to an organic, complex, heterogeneous body 
may be enumerated as aggregation, communication, association, 
codperation, combination, and organization.! They are here 
named in order of their initial sequences. But for the purposes 
of analysis they are taken up in the order of their beginnings. 

Aggregation. — By aggregation is meant the collection or 
massing of individuals, the coming together of the population. 
There are many causes for human aggregation, most of which 
are also common to animal societies. First among these are 
the impelling forces of physical environment, discussed in an 
earlier chapter. People gather together because of a warm 
climate and the repulsion of a cold one, or because of an abun- 
dant food supply, as illustrated by tribes of Indians who, dur- 
ing the fishing season on the Columbia River, assemble from 
the surrounding valleys and camp near the banks of the river, 
or by people who assemble where there are quantities of shell 
fish, or plenty of wild game, wild fruits, and berries. A supply 
of good water, forests sought for their protection, or shunned 
because their density diverts a migratory group, determine 
to a degree where aggregations of people shall occur. When 
pastoral and agricultural pursuits began, the tribes were obliged 
to seek the open glades. Sea coasts and mountains have proved 
barriers preventing the dispersion of the race and confirming its 
habitation within limits. 

But there were subjective influences as well that caused 
people to assemble. Foremost among these was the simple 
desire for companionship. Only preying animals like the lion 
and tiger spend a great deal of their lives alone. Feared by 

1See Giddings, Inductive Sociology, p. 13. 
8 See Part II, Chap. IT, 
271 


272 OUTLINES OF SOCIOLOGY 


people, they are avoided as dangerous companions. More- 
over, under certain conditions of food supply, only solitary 
animals can survive. Man is both carnivorous and herbivorous 
by nature, and therefore he had in the beginning larger resources 
for survival than other animals. Yet his preservation has not 
been due so much to fleetness of foot, or savageness of attack, 
as to codperative ingenuity in enlisting the forces of nature to 
fight his enemies, and serve his need. The individual could not 
cope single-handed with his enemies, nor, indeed, could his 
mind be developed without association. 

After the peaceful stage of early human society had passed 
into the age of conflict, in which each group struggled with 
all others for survival, aggregation was increased by social 
pressure. Many of the smaller groups were forced to unite 
for the sake of protection. Social integration began and con- 
tinued with increasing power throughout the entire process of 
socialization. The sexual instinct became a powerful force in 
the close relationships of the groups and caused a continuous 
and permanent association. The physical influences, also, 
creating individuals of the same type and temperament, made 
the aggregation more compact and unified. The people of 
similar characteristics and desires were inclined to go the same 
way and to be influenced by like satisfactions. 

Communication. — While aggregation could scarcely be 
separated from the development of communication, yet com- 
munication naturally follows aggregation. Moreover, the 
expression of wants and desires by individuals to each other 
sets in motion psychical currents which are veritable social 
causes in the sense that they produce results in social phenomena. 
Through communication different individuals come to have 
like feelings and ideas, — the sine qua non of common activities. 
A group of people may be assembled at a fire or at a public 
meeting, or, indeed, in an open park without any effective influ- 
ence upon each other until there is an interchange of feeling or 
thought through forms of communication. An expression of 
want or desire may unite people into a common organization. 
There is, then, a difference between the mere grouping of people 
together and intercommunication, for out of the latter comes 
the development of a common sentiment and a common intel- 

1 Ward, Pure Sociology, pp. 190, 200. 


PROCESSES OF SOCIALIZATION 273 


ligence. In modern life our special methods of communication 
are the human voice and such mechanical contrivances as the 
post, the telephone, and the telegraph. An adjunct to these 
is the newspaper, and, in general, the printing press. By means 
of these methods of communication millions of people may 
have the same knowledge, think the same thoughts, and per- 
form the same deeds at the same time. There is nothing more 
powerful in binding a community together into one social body 
than this common knowledge and common thought brought 
about by rapid communication. 

Communication always leads to the exchange of commodities, 
and the use of the same articles has a tendency to develop 
homogeneity of social life. Moreover, the practice of trading 
has a tendency to develop unity of sentiment among groups. 
Savage tribes always express social good feeling to other tribes 
or to foreigners by the exchange of articles of value. These 
may be mere trinkets or shells, bits of cloth, or weapons, but 
they establish good feeling between those who exchange the 
gifts. Wherever nations or tribes will not exchange commodi- 
ties, there is little opportunity for social unity. 

When tribes have reached the stage of development where 
communication is possible and desirable, they are ready to 
adopt the customs and habits of one another through imita- 
tion. This is done more or less unconsciously at first, then a 
later stage is reached when it is recognized as advantageous 
to adopt foreign customs. When once people adopt the same 
social custom, they become more alike from day to day, not 
only in their personal habits, but also in their larger social life. 

Association. — While the term “association”? might in 
general apply to all acts of socialization, still there is a partic- 
ular use to which it properly belongs. People may be collected 
in a body and communicate with one another without having 
community of residence, but permanent association can scarcely 
take place without it. Community of residence leads to an 
association in which persons regard each other as permanent 
members, having acquired many social relationships as a result 
of habitual companionship. Among settled forms of associa- 
tion that of family relationship should be mentioned first. 
Here we have represented intimate relationship in thought, 
sentiment, and feeling, as well as practical codperation in all 

T 


274 OUTLINES OF SOCIOLOGY 


forms of social life. This could not come about without more 
or less permanent association. This idea is exemplified in 
the fact that people closely related by blood or marriage fre- 
quently lose their interest in one another after years of separa- 
tion, while perhaps their next-door neighbors may be taken 
into a close social relation because of their proximity. We have 
many evidences to show that the love and affection exhibited 
in the family life depend largely upon close association in the 
home. 

Common religious belief, a great force in the establishment 
of social order and in the establishment of unity of thought 
and feeling, springs up through association. As religion is a 
social rather than a personal matter, it is doubtful whether 
any religious system would prevail for any length of time with- 
out community of worship. For an example, it is observed 
that as soon as any group ceases to worship together, its reli- 
gion declines. It is evident from this and other observations 
that religion is much more a social function than we are generally 
willing to admit. The church in which exists a common senti- 
ment thrives, but it declines when its members begin to hold 
diverse religious beliefs. 

Gathered together in a common territory and living in close 
association, people naturally played together. With the stimu- 
lus of social games the process of socialization went rapidly on. 
We have but recently come to have a proper appreciation of 
the social value of recreation. Not all peoples have had edu- 
cational systems, but all have had games. The process of so- 
cialization — that process whereby the many are welded to- 
gether into a unity — goes on most effectively in play. Games 
connected by mimicry with the most important vicissitudes of 
savage life stir the deepest emotions. Such games are usually 
imitations of the critical moments in chase or battle and as 
such call forth the liveliest emotional stimulation. They 
relieve and relax the nervous organism and at the same time 
lift people out of the dead monotony of their humdrum lives. 
In the stir and emotional tension of such critical moments in 
games men throw off the reserve which usually separates them 
from each other as if by a wall. Their association becomes 
more intimate for the time being; they understand each other 
better. They are released from their narrowed selves and 


PROCESSES OF SOCIALIZATION 275 


enjoy the expansion of personality which the emotional “‘ spree ” 
provided by the game affords. In the pleasure experienced 
during these games the basis of social codperation is laid.? 

Not only association in active games, but association around 
the camp fire at night in the groupal settlement, did much to 
solidify the feelings of the group. Stories were told and songs 
were sung recounting the deeds of famous heroes and mighty 
warriors, and group actions were set forth in the lyric dance. 
Moreover, household and community meals did much to culti- 
vate that common feeling and idealism which makes possible 
codperation. Among every primitive people of which we have 
any evidence feast days were very numerous and played an im- 
portant part in the formation of social unity. So ingrained in 
the very roots of the race is the habit of eating together and 
so effectively does it, even in our highly artificial society, conduce 
to the cultivation of sociability, that no great project is launched, 
no occasion for securing codperation among men, who to begin 
with may not be agreed upon a program, is complete without 
a dinner or a luncheon ora banquet. With primitive men the 
feast counted even more in the development of a social mind. 

Furthermore, in connection with games and feasting there 
was usually to be found another influence making for codpera- 
tion. Primitive man made such gatherings the occasion for 
breaking over the ordinarily accepted sex taboos which sexual 
jealousy had established. Wife lending and a promiscuity of 
sex relations prevailed at such times to a degree which was 
not tolerated at other times. This liberality, while abhorrent 
to our sense of the proprieties, was in the nature of a social re- 
lease from the rigidity of established custom for the individuals 
and at the same time cultivated friendliness between those of 
the same sex who otherwise might not have been brought into 
social relations with each other. Moreover, as Giddings has 
pointed out, genetic relationships in consequence of these irregu- 
larities became complicated.? This at a time when blood rela- 
tionships counted much in social relations made for social 
codperation. 


1 See Gillin, ‘The Sociology of Recreation,” American Journal of Sociology, May, 
1914, Vol. XIX, pp. 825-834. Patrick, ‘‘The Philosophy of Recreation,” Popular 
Science Monthly, June, 1914. 

8 Principles of Sociology, p. 261. 


276 OUTLINES OF SOCIOLOGY 


Codperation. — This must have begun very soon after people 
began to assemble into groups. Unconsciously they acquired 
the habit of working together in procuring food and shelter. 
After social order was well established in the community, each 
individual seeking his own immediate interest was, in a measure, 
ministering to the welfare of all. It must have been very early 
in the development of group life, perhaps even before man had 
developed from the animal precursor, that individuals united 
in the hunt. Bands of animals like wolves hunt in packs. 
Even pelicans have been observed to fish in bands, some of 
them stationing themselves at riffles in the river, while others 
form a segment of a circle and drive the fish towards the riffles.! 
It seems certain that prehistoric man assisted the members 
of his group in capturing the larger animals upon which he lived. 
The bones of extinct species of animals were found near the 
bones of the prehistoric man recently exhumed in France; 
and it is more than probable that the cave dwellers of this 
period worked together to capture such animals as wild horses, 
cave bears, and mammoths. 

Moreover, in the offense and defense of war primitive men 
found it necessary to work together. The strife which prevailed 
so universally in the age of conflict made it necessary for an 
individual to attach himself to a group and join with his fellows 
in defense, or perish. Community of interests in war essen- 
tially led to codperation in other affairs. When the division 
of labor first appeared it was between the sexes, the women 
doing certain things and the men following different pursuits. 
Thus the immediate care of children, the care of the home, the 
preparation of the food, the making of the clothing, and fre- 
quently the building of the home fell to the lot of woman. On 
the other hand, men did most of the hunting, fishing, and 
fighting. But as industries became diversified, as new pursuits 
sprang up, there gradually appeared a more general division 
of labor. Some killed the game, and still others cooked it. 
Some carried water, some brought the timbers for the build- 
ing of the home, while others completed the structure. Then 
came new occupations, such as the keeping of flocks and herds, 
and later, agricultural pursuits which caused people to divide 
into groups. These separate groups were all worked for the 

1Kropotkin, Mutual Aid; A Factor in Evolution, p. 23. 


PROCESSES OF SOCIALIZATION 277 


common good of the community. Our modern economic life, 
so complex and so universally organized, is but a result of the 
simple, unconscious coéperation of individuals in a community. 
There came a time, however, in primitive development, when 
groups were organized for a specific purpose, such as the build- 
ing of highways, the carrying on of commerce, the making of 
tools and weapons, and there is some evidence that there were 
sometimes guilds of citizens, such as arrowhead makers. 
Many of these methods find full expression in modern codpera- 
tion. 

Combination. — Naturally, growing out of these codpera- 
tive activities combinations of groups developed in some cases. 
While conflicts sometimes arose in the occasional meetings men- 
tioned above, on the whole the social feeling developed was 
such that normally there grew up closer relations and ulti- 
mately a combination of the two or more groups concerned. 
Sometimes a combination of different groups, which had come 
into contact in friendly relations, was made permanent by an 
exchange of women begun in the festivities referred to above. 
Often an eponymous ancestor was invented to account for the 
fact of union.1 The groups arising under such conditions co- 
alesced into a group both larger and more closely organized. 
It is probable that in the earliest times before conflict was pro- 
duced by pressure upon food supplies, many such simple group- 
ings arose out of the sheer social enjoyment as well as the greater 
social protection afforded by large numbers. 

The more important combinations, from the standpoint of 
social evolution, however, developed in quite another way. 
Such groups were the result of conflict. Whenever multiplica- 
tion of the number of the population once reached the point 
where there was a pressure upon the food supplies, then migra- 
tion had to begin either amicably or by force. Such numbers 
necessitated the conquest of other food supplies, the enslave- 
ment of the conquered and their subsequent amalgamation 
by degrees with the conquerors. This amalgamation com- 
menced in the taking of the women of the conquered as wives 


1 As in the case of the two Hebrew groups, possibly clans, as Barton thinks, which 
later became the tribes of Ephraim and Manasseh, the reputed descendants of the 
two sons of Joseph. Joshua 16, 17. See Barton, A Sketch of Semitic Origins, 
p. 271; Gunkel, Legends of Genesis, pp. 18-23. 


278 OUTLINES OF SOCIOLOGY 


and concubines of the conquerors and the production of a class 
of half-breeds, who later became, first, slaves, then trusted in- 
feriors, and then were admitted to all the privileges, forming 
thus a new race.! In this way all the great historic peoples 
were formed. A part of this great process is revealed to us 
when the curtain of history rises. It has been continuing ever 
since. There is no reason to suppose that it had not been go- 
ing on for a long period anterior to the time when written records 
were made. In fact, all the ethnological and anthropological 
evidence we have points to sucha process long continued before 
the historic races were formed. So intermixed had become the 
various peoples at the dawn of history that it is now almost 
impossible to say what the human race, or races, were like which 
developed in the original home, or homes, of the race.” 

Very much later in the development of social order came 
the combination of different groups by agreement for the es- 
tablishment of government. For government, being a form 
of social order, is also a method of codperation. It is easy to 
see that this combination must have been an implied or real 
contract for the protection of the whole group, for, through the 
process of integration, when distinct groups became united for 
either particular or general purposes, there must have been a 
tacit or formal agreement between them. 

Organization. — Out of even the natural combination of 
groups on the basis of blood kinship and social sympathy there 
developed organization. An example may be seen in the or- 
ganization of the tribes of the interior of Australia.? After 
conquest had taken place organization proceeded very rapidly. 
Organization must begin at once in order to determine the rela- 
tions of the two groups, the conquerors and the conquered, and 
fix the status of each for the advantage of the former. This 
occurred piecemeal and rather slowly at first. However, 
gradually the organization was perfected, the adjustments 
went on in both legal and in customary relations, until finally 


1Ward, Pure Sociology, pp. 202, 203. Giddings, Elements of Sociology, pp. 272, 
273; Readings in Descriptive and Historical Sociology, pp. 473-480. 

8 Giddings, Principles of Sociology, pp. 230-239. 

8 Spencer and Gillen, The Native Tribes of Central Australia, and The Northern 
Tribes of Central Australia. Each of these works shows how complex may become 
the organization of groups which probably are not the result of migration and con- 
quest, but of friendly contact. 


PROCESSES OF SOCIALIZATION 270 


there developed a complete social machinery for the regulation 
of the two groups. Sovereignty and obedience were established, 
formal institutions appeared and customs and ideals were modi- 
fied to meet the changes consequent upon the amalgamation 
of the two peoples, until, if the process worked out to its logical 
social conclusion, democracy developed. Together with these 
more formal expressions of organization there went on at the 
same time the development of private voluntary organizations 
within each group, and that more subtle, but none the less real, 
organization of relationships, in the sense in which Cooley uses 
the term, which expresses itself in customs and social relation- 
ships in the more general sense of the term. In more recent 
periods, as government has grown into a system, organization 
has found its largest field in industry. In this field large bodies 
of men have combined to accomplish certain economic results. 
To a degree these developments have made socialization pos- 
sible, for they have united large groups of people into a common 
economic life. Nevertheless, one must not shut his eyes to the 
fact that the modern system of industry which combines labor 
and capital in the productive process has also made for the forma- 
tion of classes which are to a degree antagonistic to each other. 
The industrial conflicts which are a feature of our day are not 
without significance for social development. They also teach 
the members of each group organization of government and 
thus make them more efficient. That modern industry has 
solidified each of the various economic classes, the capitalists, 
the landowners, the entrepreneurs, and the laborers, once 
scattered and not conscious of their common interests and of 
the value of their united codperation, is undeniable. 

While organization was inevitable, brought about by all 
the processes enumerated above, its development also owed 
much to leaders. As soon as society divided itself into two 
groups, those who led and those who followed, or, as it might 
be more formally stated, those who governed and those who were 
governed, it had gone a long way toward permanent organiza- 
tion. The status of the individual in the home was determined, 
and also the relation of the slave to the master was recognized. 
Likewise, the social position of those supposed to be nobly 
born was firmly established. The development of. leadership, 
which appeared in most striking manner in tribal and civil 


280 OUTLINES OF SOCIOLOGY 


feudalism, gave a decided spur to what Mallock has called “ the 
struggle for domination,” and greatly hastened the growth of 
organization. Consider what motives leadership, based upon 
ability, enforcing the domination of others, brought to bear 
upon human endeavor —not only the motive of aristocratic 
prestige, but hope of the more substantial rewards of primitive 
wealth, ease, and sensuous enjoyment. ‘These motives aroused 
with tenfold greater power the desire to emulate and surpass 
in achievement. They gave a decided impetus to the inventive 
spirit of man, to his capacity for organization, and to the modern 
spirit of cunning that reaps where others have sown. They 
gave direction to the latent energies of large numbers of men. 
They secured a development of the division of human labor and 
made each man more efficient in his social relationships. Men 
who were not spurred by them were forced to labor under the 
stern whip, not of natural need, but of fear of a directing mind. 
While this autocratic organization and direction had its dark 
side, it was a beneficent phase in the development of social 
codperation, appearing dark only because it has so often survived 
into an age when it has ceased to be consonant with developed 
democracy. Out of it has grown the more humane and democ- 
ratized organization of our day, and it will end in the more 
complete democracy of which the best minds of the present 
dream. 

Differentiation. — In the processes which we have described 
no mention has been made of a phenomenon which often appears 
in modern societies as they grow from inchoate groups into a 
real community. Side by side with the development of social 
unity there is generally seen the growth of groups closely united 
in opposition to some important individual or another group. 
In the mixing of ideas and ideals in a new aggregation of people 
there is bound to be some clashing. Sometimes in the early 
days of a community this strife of groups within the neighbor- 
hood is so sharp that the development of a community spirit 
is very difficult and may be long delayed. Sometimes it takes 
a considerable lapse of time to heal the wounds made by such 
quarrels. “Examples are to be seen in frontier and mountainous 
communities where communication is interrupted and associa- 
tion is difficult. It appears, also, however, in communities 
sometimes by reason of close contact. People who might be 


PROCESSES OF SOCIALIZATION 281 


on fairly friendly terms together if they were not brought into 
close association will on closer contact reveal essential differ- 
ences. This serves the useful purpose of diversification of the 
mental and social ideals of their community. Before the end 
is reached in the process thus started there will be compromise 
and the amalgamation of the two ideals. Out of the conflict 
will come toleration and a new ideal with a broader outlook 
than would have been possible otherwise. 

Moreover, in older communities there is constantly going on 
a process of differentiation growing up out of the fact that some 
people in that community go out of it and come back with new 
ideas. The young people go away to school, or to the neighbor- 
ing city to business, sometimes to return with a stock of new 
ideas which start the process of social leavening of the com- 
munity ideals. The same thing occurs when men go off to war. 
They return with new ideas and a new outlook. Again, it occurs 
when from any community there is an exodus to a new mining 
field or a new agricultural community, and for some reason the 
emigrants return to the home community. If the returning 
members of the community are aggressive, the old process of 
debate, the ranging of people on different sides, and the old 
conflict of ideas takes place all over again, but on a different 
plane. 

Now out of this social differentiation which occurs constantly 
in all dynamic societies, there results social selection. Some 
tire of the conflict and move away. Some, because of it, are 
ready to listen to the call of opportunity elsewhere. The 
struggle for more culture or wealth leads them to choose per- 
manently some other field for their endeavors. In their places 
others from elsewhere come into the old community. In the 
end a social ideal becomes established in the customs of the 
place; traditions are set forth as the criterion of conduct and 
opinion. Old age upholds old customs. Established wealth 
secures a large following. The result is that unless the new- 
comer and the iconoclast is very well intrenched in social pres- 
tige, or wealth, or unless he is unusually persistent, what is 
established will remain undisturbed and he will go where his 
talent finds more congenial fields of endeavor. Nevertheless, 
the mingling of new ideas with old by reason of the change in 
the population is bound to continue in all places where ingress 


282 OUTLINES OF SOCIOLOGY 


and egress is easy and where the economic opportunity is in- 
viting.! In this way variety is added to the stock of ideas and 
ideals of a community, culture becomes broader, the spirit of 
the community more tolerant, and personalities with the widest 
social interests are developed. 


REFERENCES 


DE GREEF, GUILLAUME. Introduction a la Soctologie, pp. 67-91. 

FAIRBANKS, ARTHUR. Introduction to Sociology, pp. 189-221. 

Gippincs, F. H. Principles of Sociology, pp. 299-360. 

LETOURNEAU, CHARLES. Sociology, pp. 514-560. 

SMALL and ViNcENT. Introduction to the Study of Society, pp. 112-141, 251- 
266. 

SPENCER, HERBERT. Social Statics, pp. 447-498; Principles of Sociology, 
Vol. I, pp. 537-563, 576-585. 

Warp, LESTER F. Pure Sociology, p. 112. 


QUESTIONS AND EXERCISES 


1. What difference is there between the motives inducing people to con- 
gregate together in the formation of hordes and those which induce people to 
gather into large groups to-day in our cities and in new countries? 

2. Work out the development of the processes of socialization of people 
gathered together into a new community, by showing how one by one the 
ties which knit the various families together into a social unity came into 
being. 

3. Show what definite results, if any, in the development of social unity 
in some community of which you know followed the introduction of the tele- 
phone; the interurban; the organization of a literary society in the neigh- 
borhood schoolhouse or church; the organization of a farmers’ club. 

4. Select some rural neighborhood and trace the marriages of people in 
that community for two or three generations in order to see how interrelated 
the families of the neighborhood tend to become. 

5. Select some community and describe the various organizations which 
have developed in that place. Show which are general and which are for 
only a certain selected group. 

6. Tabulate the various forms of codperation which may be found in some 
neighborhood with which you are acquainted, or may become acquainted. 

7. Show how in the process of socialization there develop hostilities and 
small groups and cliques in a neighborhood. What social purpose do these 
serve? 


1 Giddings, Descriptive and Historical Sociology, pp. 67, 104-122. 


CHAPTER II 
SOCIAL FORCES 


PHYSICAL science has accustomed us to look for the causes 
of phenomena in forces. It has taught us that wherever there 
are effects of any kind in the physical world there must be forces 
producing them. The discovery of physical forces so simpli- 
fied the difficulties of understanding the physical universe that 
we naturally ask in the presence of social phenomena, What 
forces have produced these results? Accepting the term 
“forces ” as a helpful analogy, but recognizing that when used 
with reference to social phenomena it is but an analogy, we may 
designate the causes of social phenomena as “ social forces.” 
By this term we mean strictly speaking the forces which influ- 
ence individuals in their social relations. While strictly inter- 
preted, the term should be applied only to those psychical prod- 
ucts called desires, which influence men in their relations one 
with another.! It is worth while to consider those influences 
also arising outside of man and society which modify social 
action. These forces which condition social processes should 
be clearly differentiated from the social forces. Baldwin has 
called these external factors “‘ the socionomic forces,’”’ includ- 
ing in the meaning of this term, however, not only the influence 
of the physical environment, but also the influence of other 
groups. With this understanding of the nature of these envi- 
roning conditions we may properly discuss them here. 

Classification of Social Forces. — Various classifications of 
social forces have been proposed. Below is a parallel conspec- 
tus of a number of such classifications. 


1 Ward first called attention to the important place desire holds in social motiva- 
tion and it is he who first worked the matter out carefully. Ward, Pure Sociology, 
PP. 33, 34, 103-110; cf. Ross, Foundations of Sociology, Chap. VII. 

2 Baldwin, Social and Ethical Interpretations, 1913, pp. 484-491. 


283 


284 OUTLINES OF SOCIOLOGY 


Small } Ratzenhofer ? Ward * 
Health. I. Primitive Interests: Physical, — (function bodily) 
Wealth. Race interests (re- Ontogenetic Forces, — 
Sociability. production). Positive, attractive (seek- 
Knowledge. Physiological (hun- ing pleasure). 
Beauty. ger, etc.). Negative, protective 
Rightness. II. Following rise of (avoiding pain). 
Consciousness : Phylogenetic Forces, — 
Egotic interests Direct, sexual ; Indirect, 
(self-regarding). consanguineal. 
Social interests Social, — (function psychic) 
(other-regarding). Sociogenetic Forces, — 
III. Following awaken- Moral (seeking the safe 
ing of feeling of and good). 
dependence : “Esthetic (seeking the 
Transcendental in- beautiful). 
terests (religion Intellectual (seeking the 
and philosophy). useful and true). 
Stuckenberg * Ross® 


I. Fundamental. 
1. The economic. 
2. The political. 
II. Constitutional. 
3. The egotic. 
4. The appetitive. 
5. The affectional. 
6. The recreative. 
III. Cultural. 
7. The esthetic. 
8. The ethical. 
9. The religious. 
10. The intellectual. 


I. Desires, the primary forces — 


Natural Desires: 

(a) Appetitive. Hunger, thirst, and 
sex appetite. 

(6) Hedonic. Fear, aversion to pain, 
love of warmth, ease, and sen- 
suous pleasure. 

(c) Egotic. These are demands of the 
self rather than of the organ- 
ism,— shame, vanity, pride, 
envy, love of liberty, of power, 
and of glory. Ambition, the 
type of these. 

(d) Affective. Desires terminating on 
others, — sympathy, sociability, 
love, hate, spite, jealousy, anger, 
revenge. 


1Small and Vincent, Introduction to the Study of Society, pp. 174-177; Small, 


General Sociology, pp. 443-467 ; American Journal of Sociology, Vol. V1, pp. 177-199. 
2 Sociologische Erkenntniss, pp. 54-66. 
3 Ward, Pure Sociology, p. 261. 
5 Ross, Foundations of Sociology, p. 169. 


4 Stuckenberg, Sociology, Vol. I, p. 207. 


SOCIAL FORCES 285 


Ross 


(e) Recreative. Play impulses, love of 
self-expression. 

Cultural Desires: 

(f) Religious. Yearning for ecstasy. 

(g) Ethical. Love of fair play, sense 
of justice. 

(h) Esthetic. Desire for the pleasures 
of perception, — enjoyment of 
the beautiful. 

(z) Intellectual. Curiosity, love of 
knowing, of learning, and of 
imparting. 

II. Interests, those complexes of desire 
“which shape society and 
make history”: — 

(a) Economic interests. 

(6) Political interests. 

(c) Religious interests. 

(d) Intellectual interests. 


An incisive criticism of certain of these schemes has been made 
by Professor Ross. He objects to Professor Small’s classifica- 
tion on the ground that it classes together demands which are 
specific and not logically included under the categories given, 
and cites in support of that criticism hunger and love, which 
are not a desire for health. He also objects that desire for 
wealth is secondary to desire for the things money will buy, 
and that under sociability are grouped such different desires 
as the affective craving for companionship and the egotic de- 
sire for appreciation. 

Ratzenhofer’s classification of the forces which impel living 
beings is comprehensive, but Ross criticizes this classification 
of the desires operative in human societies, since it is not satis- 
factory to group impulses solely with reference to their concrete 
objects, such as species, organism, self, society, and the cosmos. 

Ross pronounces Ward’s the best for philosophic purposes, 
but prefers one based more immediately upon the nature of the 
desires than upon the functions which they prompt. 

Stuckenberg’s classification would be satisfactory if the so- 
called “‘ fundamental ”’ forces were omitted. Ross says that it 


286 OUTLINES OF SOCIOLOGY 


is an error to call the desire for wealth one of the original social 
forces, urging similar objection to it here as in the case of Small’s 
classification. Moreover, Ross objects to political interests 
being classified as fundamental, inasmuch as the state appeals 
to no one group of desires. In fact the desires that later cause 
political activities manifest themselves first in other ways; al- 
most every group of social forces seeks expression through the 
state only after it has already come to be used for cultural 
purposes. Ross prefers to arrange the springs of action in two 
planes, desires and interests. He relegates the study of natural 
wants to anthropology, reserving to sociology only the cultural 
wants in connection with association and the presence of 
culture. 

Professor Ellwood in his recent work has treated the subject 
of the classification of the social forces. His classification 
briefly presented is as follows:} 


I. The physical factors: passive factors operating over long periods 
and only indirectly : 
(a) Geographic environment, — climate, topography, water- 
courses, rainfall, fauna, flora, etc. 
(b) Biological factors, — selection, variation, heredity, etc. 


II. The psychical factors: active factors operating directly and at 


once: 
(a) Impulses. (a) Primary forces — { 1. Original. 

(6) Feelings. impulses. \ 2. Acquired. 

(c) Beliefs. 1. Pleasant. 

(d) Interests. __ | 2. Unpleasant. 

(ey "Desires @) Becondary forces 8) ites danas mane Hh 


feelings. f 
gs stincts. 


4. Attached to habits. 


Ellwood properly points out that the physical factors must be 
included in any comprehensive list of the forces which influence 
society. These forces have an influence on society in the long 
run. While they act only indirectly upon the impulses, desires, 
feelings, and beliefs of the individual, which are the active social 
forces, nevertheless, in the long run they are of considerable 
influence on the type. While Ellwood does not include a dis- 


1 Ellwood, Sociology in its Psychological Aspects, Chap. XII. 


SOCIAL FORCES 287 


cussion of these factors in his book, he omits them simply be- 
cause he is dealing only with the psychological aspects of the 
subject.! 

In a text of this character, we shall include the physical fac- 
tors in the belief that the student should have as comprehensive 
a conception of the various forces which influence the formation 
and development of society as possible. The task is to set forth 
clearly the various influences which affect social life. The diffi- 
culty is to get a classification which at once takes into account 
the subjective forces driving the individual to social action, and 
which at the same time makes room for a clear exposition of 
the functions they perform in society. With the practical 
purpose in view of making clear to the student the forces 
that codperate in the building of society and with a keen 
appreciation of its many shortcomings, we venture to sub- 
mit a classification which owes much to those which have 
preceded it. 


I. External Conditions of the Physical Environment? affecting 
man’s impulses, feelings, thoughts, and actions. 


(a) Climate. 

(b) Soil. 

(c) Physical configuration, — mountains, valleys, watercourses, 
eli ah 

(d) Water supply. 

(e) Flora. 

(f) Fauna. 


Il. External Social Factors affecting man as a social being. 


(a) Presence or absence of other groups. 
(b) Attitude of other groups, — hostility or friendliness. 


1 Ellwood, op. cit., p. 280. The quarrel as to whether the physical conditions 
are social forces arises chiefly from the loose use of the word “social.’”? Those who 
oppose the inclusion of physical conditions in the category of social forces use the 
term with reference to the way in which those forces originate. By “social forces” 
they mean forces which are social in their origin. The others mean those forces, 
whatever their origin, which are socializing in their effects, forces which produce 
social results; in other words, socializing forces. The term is used in the latter 
sense in this text. The following scheme takes into consideration, however, that 
some socializing forces are social in their origin, while others are physical and still 
others biological. 

2Semple, Influence of Geographic Conditions, passim. See also Gen. 26: 12-22. 


288 OUTLINES OF SOCIOLOGY 


III. Forces in Man’s Psychical Nature. 


INSTINCTIVE (a) Appetitive, — hunger, thirst, and sex appetite. 
(b) Hedonic, —fear, aversion to pain, love of 


IN ORIGIN 
warmth, ease, and sensuous pleasure. 
(c) Egotic, — ambition, shame, envy, pride, vanity, 
je bieeeleseama ti love of liberty, of power, and of glory. 


Soctat ix | (2) Affective, —sympathy, sociability, love, hate, 


Oniots spite, jealousy, anger, revenge. 
(e) Recreative, — play impulses, desire for self- 
expression. 
(f) Religious, — desire for relationship with the Un- 
known either through ecstasy or through rela- 
Pes a Ree tions of patronage and submission. 
Girma: (g) Ethical, — love of fair play, sense of justice. 
Duty a orn (h) Aisthetic, — desire for enjoyment of the pleas- 


ures of perception, or the beautiful. 
(i) Intellectual, — curiosity, love of knowing, learn- 
ing, and teaching. 


IV. Interests growing out of combinations of human desires 
in large part socially conditioned and directed towards the objects 
presented by physical stimuli and the external social factors. 


(a) The wealth interests, — directed towards securing wealth. 

(6) The political interests, — looking towards protection in the 
exercise of complete, individual self-expression. 

(c) The religious interests, — looking toward alliance with the 
Unknown for release, protection, or advantage. 

(d) The intellectual interests, — yearnings for diversified experi- 
ence, for interpretation of the mysterious, release from 
fear and control through understanding. 

(e) The welfare interests, — centering on measures intended to 
conserve the group and contribute to its welfare. 


Natural Conditions that Influence Society. — In an earlier 
chapter of this book, certain physical conditions which affect 
society have been treated at length, and in the previous chap- 
ter, those which condition the formation of social aggregates 

1 This classification is built upon that of Ross, with the addition of certain fac- 
tors which he does not place in independent classes, preferring to include them in 
certain of his wider categories. For example under III the religious desire is not 


so simple as he would indicate. This necessitates a change in the content of the 
religious interests. Cf. Ross, Foundations of Sociology, pp. 169-181. 


SOCIAL FORCES 289 


have been mentioned. ‘The factors dealt with before were water, 
food, topographical features, and climate.! 

In addition to water, food, and climate, the natural resources 
of the earth, such as forests, mines, water power, and means of 
transportation, have been important influences in causing people 
to settle on a certain territory. Consequently these resources 
have been instrumental in the development of social order. 
Upon the whole, the direction taken by the social life, the forms 
of industry, and to some extent the nature of the social bonds 
and even the forms of thought are conditioned by the physical 
surroundings. Again, the physical influences on life and 
character in the creation of like temperaments and the inspi- 
ration of the same desires have made people alike and caused 
them to go in the same way, and thus have established social 
order. Racial characteristics, while dependent entirely upon 
this group of causes, have been developed largely by differences 
of environment. The ancient Greek owed something of his 
character to the climatic conditions of the little peninsula on 
which he lived. ‘The small fertile valleys, the soft air, influenced 
by proximity to the sea, the sunny skies, together with the 
semitropical vegetation, lent a charm to his life and influenced 
his character. Likewise, the valley of the Nile, where the river 
overflows the desert, made Egypt and largely determined the 
Egyptian character as well. The Sphinx and the Pyramids 
could not have existed in Greece, Italy, or Switzerland. India, 
with its lofty mountains, extensive plains, great rivers, fearful 
storms, and terrible droughts which parched the vegetation, 
causing famines and pestilences, has had a vast influence on 
the character and the mind of the native. It was a land of fear 
and “a land of regrets.’”” Indian philosophy, literature, and 
the Indian gods, creations of the mind of this people, de- 
pended largely for their character on physical environment.? 
So it might be shown that the freedom-loving Swiss owes some- 
thing to his mountain home, that the Scotch character is influ- 
enced by the climate, and that even the American character 
as well owes much to sunshine and ozone, to mountain and 

1 See Part II, Chap. II, and Part III, Chap. I. 

2See Buckle, History of Civilization in England, p. 29; George Adam Smith, 
Historical Geography of the Holy Land, p. 29, and Chaps. II, III; Huntington, The 


Pulse of Asia, pp. 106-132; Mill, International Geography, Chaps. VIII and Ix; 
Small, General Sociology, pp. 405-424. 


U 


290 OUTLINES OF SOCIOLOGY 


plain, and the diversified resources of the nation. The result 
of this influence is that people subjected to the same physical 
environment to a degree tend to become similar in type of mind 
and character, to develop similar reactions to stimuli and to 
develop similar ideas and institutions. 

The Influence of the Social Environment.— Even more 
important in conditioning the development of society are the 
other social groups with which an aggregate of people come 
into contact. If the contact is not hostile in its nature, there 
is interchange of goods, ideas, and customs, pleasurable com- 
munication and imitation of one by the other. In most cases, 
however, contact with another group has meant conflict. There- 
fore, hostile groups have much the same effect as the unfriendly 
desert or wilderness and hostile beasts, except that greater 
intellectual efforts are excited in the attempt to outwit them. 
The presence of an enemy demands close organization on the 
part of the group, submission to the war-leader, and gives rise 
to the beginnings of government and division of labor. More- 
over, hostility often begets reaction against the ideas, customs, 
and institutions of the enemy, except such of them as appear 
to be really necessary to survival. The latter are borrowed 
— but usually are made to appear as an invention. The pres- 
ence of other groups determine in what directions the group shall 
develop, where it shall settle, and to a degree the forms of its 
industry, and its ideals of a social personality. The gods of the 
enemy are said to be demons, their ethics perverse, their culture 
barbaric, and their social customs degrading. All opposition 
affects the direction which the social forces shall take and to a 
degree the ways in which they shall express themselves. 

Individual Desires Instinctive in Origin. — Those social forces 
that arise from individual desires operating in social relations 
are considered by some to be the real social forces, — forces 
originating in the social organism, as well as operating upon it.! 

(a) Appetitive Desires. — Primary among these in order of 
action are the desire to satisfy hunger. The attempt to satisfy 
hunger caused people to work together in obtaining food. This 
simple act has had tremendous results in the development of 
social and economic life. So important is this that were it not 


1 They are a part of what Ross calls the “natural’’ desires, Foundations of Sociol- 
Ogy, D. 169. 


SOCIAL FORCES 291 


for the impelling force of hunger, one half of the industries 
would suddenly disappear. 

(b) Hedonic Desires. — Not less fundamental than the de- 
sire to appease hunger is the sexual appetite. This is a true 
animal instinct, universal in all, and powerful in its influence in 
the development of social order. Although primarily an ani- 
mal instinct, it gives rise to all the love sentiments and the re- 
fined sexual relationships which lie at the foundation of the home. 
Only a physical passion in its primary consideration, it may 
become a generalized sentiment stimulating the whole emo- 
tional life of man. 

The sexual appetite is the method of nature for the perpet- 
uation of the species, but the reproductive forces resulting 
therefrom become varied and widely differentiated from the 
original purpose. While the home is primarily for the produc- 
tion and rearing of children, it has given rise to the family, and 
has formed the basis of the gens and the historical foundation 
of states. The sociological importance of children extends 
beyond the mere idea of perpetuating the race. They form the 
center of social activity and cause intense effort in their rear- 
ing andculture. Nor does this influence decline in the progress 
of civilization, but grows greater, generation after generation, 
until to-day the child stands at the center of civilization. For 
him we work and save, we sacrifice and struggle, that he may 
be better developed than his ancestors and that he may have 
opportunities equal to his abilities. The ideal society is always 
in thefuture, and men spend their lives largely for future gener- 
ations. It is this careful preparation for those who follow that 
causes much of the increasing industrial activity of each succeed- 
ing generation. 

Moreover, the effect of the love sentiment on the individual 
— the love of husband and wife, of father and mother, of family 
and home — is great, making man a new creature of sympathy 
and codperation. The social life improves just to the extent 
that the love sentiment extends beyond mere physical passion 
and becomes diffused through the entire being as a psychical 
activity as well as a physical passion.! 

There is also a deep significance in the gradual changing of 
the characteristics of individuals through the operation of sexual 


1Cf. Ross, Foundations of Sociology, pp. 157, 179, 180. 


292 OUTLINES OF SOCIOLOGY 


selection. The differentiation of races has been strongly influ- 
enced by this change and the social as well as the physical char- 
acteristics probably have been varied by the force of selective 
mating. After conflict had made the warrior the admired man, 
the women, so far as they exercised a choice, selected as a mate 
the man who was most warlike, or the most battle scarred. In 
times of peace other ideals of virility came to dominate, and the 
women selected mates more or less according to these newer 
ideals. Thus, with the passing of war as an occupation and the 
coming of industry and the arts of peace the fathers of the 
families were chosen in accordance with peaceful, industrious, 
and home-loving characteristics. Thus was laid the biologi- 
cal basis whereby the love forces expanded beyond the family 
and extended to the larger social world. The parental love 
which is the source of sympathy for others extends at first to the 
kindred and establishes a unity of the group. When the family 
expands into the tribe, while there is primarily a unity arising 
through the demands of protection, the love of kindred still 
dominates and expands until it becomes a patriotic sentiment 
for the race. When the tribe has a permanent location, this 
sentiment extends to the land. So that the love of family, of 
home, of tribe and people, and of the land of birth makes the 
universal sentiment of patriotism. While this restraint never 
dies out in normal national life, it frequently is transformed 
into humanitarianism extending to all members of the human 
race regardless of geographic and national boundaries. 

Next to this in importance among the hedonic desires is the 
avoidance of pain, fear of enemies, love of warmth, ease, and 
sensuous pleasure. These desires lead men to build homes, 
devise shelter in cave and tree and house, to make clothing, and 
to codperate together for purposes of defense against a common 
enemy. ‘The desire for shelter and for protection of the body 
has been very strong in the development of social unity. It 
has caused the introduction of artificial heat, with all of its 
mechanical devices ; by the demand for fuel it created the great 
industry of coal mining. It has grouped people together under 
the same roof, necessitating social order, resulting in an increased 
sociability on the one hand, and on the other it has separated 
them into households and made the household the unit of early 
social groups. The social activities of the home led to the 


SOCIAL FORCES 293 


establishment of the rights of property, and a development of 
the family life with the consequent great growth of social tra- 
dition, example, and suggestion. Its influence is observed in 
the development of language, in the creation of special communi- 
cation, and in the beginnings of economic and social life. It has 
been far-reaching in its direct consequences, for the attempt to 
secure protection from cold has led to the development of 
architecture and home decorations. In codperating against a 
common enemy man learned to widen his sympathies and to 
work with fellow man. 

Individual| Desires: Instinctive-Social in Origin. — (c) 
The egotic desires are directed towards the satisfaction of self- 
centered interests also, but in contrast with the appetitive and 
hedonic desires, the egotic draw their intensity from their social 
value. In a world where there was no one else but a lone indi- 
vidual, a Crusoe, these desires would never arise. They have 
their origin in the emulation, ambition, envy, pride, vanity, 
love of liberty, of power, and of glory, which are possible only 
in the presence of others. We prize certain things only because 
they give us distinction in comparison with the possessions 
of others. Much of the value of clothing comes from the feel- 
ing of superiority to others which its possession confers. Cloth- 
ing of the body originated in the desire for ornament, but this 
soon came to be supplemented by the wish to protect the person 
against cold, storm, or heat. Later the need of clothing was 
felt through the sense of modesty, arising from conformity to 
what had become conventional and to which had been attached 
a sex taboo. To-day, while the idea of protecting the body 
from the influence of climate is primary in importance, much 
more attention and time are devoted to the artistic effect of 
clothing and to ornamentation than to the utilitarian results. 
While a coarse garment costing but a few dollars would suffi- 
ciently protect the wearer against wind and storm, there is 
worn in the place of it an artistic gown which costs hundreds 
of dollars. While the extent of ornamentation is somewhat 
dependent upon economic and social station, some of the poorer 
classes of humanity wearing the simplest garments, the richer 
people only dressing in silks, satins, and laces and wearing costly 
jewels, yet, to a certain degree, the ornamental motive still sur- 
vives everywhere. The savage began by scarifying, tattooing, 


204 OUTLINES OF SOCIOLOGY 


or painting the body. Then he inserted various articles, such 
as coarse ornaments of shells, bones, or stones into various parts 
of his person — his nose, his lips, or his ears. The first garments 
woven from leaves or the bark of trees were inartistic; later 
these were colored with some degree of artistic effect, or cut 
in fanciful shapes. No matter how poor people may be to-day, 
the desire for adornment is very strong, and they will frequently 
spend much more time on the trimmings and decorations of the 
garment than on the original cost of the garment itself. A 
man may wear a thirty-dollar suit of clothes, but a hundred- 
dollar diamond ring. 

(d) Affective Desires. —'The affective desires, rooted partly 
in the same soil of craving for social superiority as the egotic, 
differ from the latter in that they terminate upon others, in- 
stead of upon one’s self. They include sympathy, sociability, 
love, hate, spite, jealousy, anger, and revenge. Primarily the 
desire for sociability is a causal force in society building. 
There is an individual satisfaction, a pleasure in mere associa- 
tion. Whatever dispute there may be concerning the social 
qualities of man, it must be assumed that he has always had a 
desire for companionship, and while the desire for association 
may have been comparatively weak in primitive society, it has 
always existed and it increases with the development of civil- 
ization. The desire for sociability has led man to seek after 
pleasure and to strive for position in order to reach a desired 
standard of social life. This striving has had great influence 
in the arrangement of people in groups. 

Originally growing out of sympathy, the craving for compan- 
ionship develops a number of derivative desires. On the one 
hand the cravings for love, esteem, and the approval of sym- 
pathetic souls, and on the other the desire to vent upon despi- 
cable or hostile individuals a feeling of spite, jealousy, anger, 
hate, and revenge grows out of the craving for sympathy from 
one’s fellows. As the desire for sociability develops association 
and codperation, so the wish to vent the feelings of anger, spite, 
etc., upon others leads to the formation of classes, and to social 
differentiation, which lends variety to social groups and stim- 
ulates the making of devices for social control and codperation, 
and thus tends in the end to promote conscious socialization. 
Out of the desire for sociability develops a special phase of it, 


SOCIAL FORCES 295 


viz., the desire for the approval of our fellows, — what Giddings 
calls ‘‘ desire for recognition.” ! 

While it is difficult to estimate to what extent the desire for 
the approval of our fellows influences our lives, we know that it 
is one of the strongest motives of human action. Take away 
the recognition of our actions by our fellow men from our life, 
and it is reduced to a dull monotony without charm or object 
of existence. Granting, even, that man does all things because 
he desires to do them or because he thinks they are right and 
ought to be done, yet we shall find a source of this desire 
and of this “ought” in the approval or disapproval of 
others. How this is exemplified in every simple act of life! 
One scarcely buys a garment or toils at any occupation, or 
pursues any course of life without thinking how others will 
look upon it. Perhaps this influence is most strikingly observed 
in the choice of companions and associates. A man seeks the 
companionship of those who approve his conduct rather than 
those who disapprove it. Or, having chosen associates whose 
life and character he admires and who satisfy his desire for 
companionship, he will seek to do that which is approved by 
them. 

In the choice of a course of life or profession, social approval 
or disapproval is also important. The struggle for wealth is 
greatly modified by the approbation of our fellows. Men fol- 
low literary pursuits because they wish to meet with the ap- 
proval of the community. A striving after political preferment 
is often to be explained by the fact that man desires to be 
before the public eye and receive the admiration and plaudits 
of the state or nation. It is true that this desire is more power- 
ful in some people than in others, but for that very reason it 
has its strong influence in determining the life course of the 
individual and in segregating people into groups. ‘There is no 
greater evidence that man has a social nature and that he is a 
social being in sympathy with his social life and surroundings 
than the fact that he borrows ideals from others and allows his 
own ideals to be modified by those current in his group. 

(e) Recreative Desires. —'The play impulse occupies a larger 
place in the list of social forces than we have been accustomed 
to admit. The desire roots itself physically in the pleasure 


1 Giddings, Inductive Sociology, p. 98. 


2096 OUTLINES OF SOCIOLOGY 


derived from the stimulation of unused muscles and nerves; 
biologically in the fact that multiplication of activities gives a 
larger number of trials at adaptation to the conditions of the 
environment, thus improving the chances of survival; psycho- 
logically in the emotional response to all activities, whether 
they be old and familiar in the experience of the race, and hence 
restful to the organism, or novel, providing intenser reaction by 
reason of diversity of satisfaction and rest from the weariness 
induced by the habitual overwork of other mucles and nerves. 
The factor, however, which gives the desire to play its greatest 
scope and intensity is that play is not solitary, but social. Con- 
sider the play of a Crusoe, — how limited would be its diversity, 
how dwarfed the emotional returns to the player! As a matter 
of fact, play has developed in groups. Only in groups does it 
get its compelling and socially useful intensity. The presence 
of the other players greatly stimulates the activity and increases 
the pleasure experienced. Add to that the presence of the 
spectators and the stress of the emotional tension induced by 
the desire for their approval and fear of their disapproval. Com- 
plete the machinery for the stimulation of nervous effort with 
rhythmic yells and calls, the pulsations of stirring music, the mass- 
ing of banners with shibboleths concentrating the hopes and 
fears of a whole community, and you have an emotional result 
to which no individual effort could possibly approach. A per- 
son may have an alcoholic “‘ spree” all by himself, but an emo- 
tional “ spree ” such as can be experienced at a football game 
or a boat race requires a crowd.! 

Who that has ever played or witnessed games can doubt that 
the recreative desires have a specific and powerful socializing 
effect? Releasing the pent-up emotions and the stress and 
strain of vocational effort, breaking up the monotony of life 
incident to close confinement to a task, and stimulating the age- 
long impulses to active physical or mental activity, play opens 
up the fountains of human nature and gives opportunity to the 
passion for self-expression in pleasant contact with one’s fellows 
in the delightful land of make-believe, where the actual failures 


1 See Professor G. T. W. Patrick, ‘“The Psychology of Football,” American Journal 
of Psychology, Vol. XIV, pp. 114-117; ‘‘The Psychology of Relaxation,” Popular 
Science Monthly, June, 1914. Gillin, ‘‘The Sociology of Recreation,” The American 
Journal of Sociology, Vol. XIX, No. 6, May, 1914. 


SOCIAL FORCES 207 


of life are forgotten in the successes of the game, and where all 
things become possible. Moreover, with the stimulation of the 
emotions it makes possible relationships which, under different 
circumstances, could not be formed. It provides that fellow- 
ship which builds attachments bridging over into the serious 
business of life, and which lies at the basis of democracy. It 
breaks down the reserve by which we shut ourselves off from each 
other for self-defense in the ordinary business relationships of 
life. By stirring the emotions it lifts us over national boun- 
daries and levels for us race prejudices. From primitive times 
down to the present play has developed sociability and paved 
the way for understandings and covenants. It breaks down 
“the middle wall of partition ”’ between the “‘ Greek and Bar- 
barian,” Irish and German, Italian and American, as may be 
seen by a visit to any municipal playground in any of our large 
cities. 

Moreover, labor apart from that which is necessary to secure 
the wherewithal to satisfy the simplest natural wants historically 
began in play. Says Biicher, “‘ Labour among primitive peoples 
is something very ill-defined. The further we follow it back, 
the more closely it approaches in form and substance to flay.” 
He points out that the taming of animals by the primitive man 
begins with those which he keeps for his amusement. He 
says, further, “‘ All regularly sustained activity finally takes on 
a rhythmic form and becomes fused with music and song in an 
indivisible whole.’’ It is in play that technical skill is devel- 
oped, according to this author. Even among the more highly 
developed primitive peoples when work and play begin to be 
differentiated from each other the dance still precedes or fol- 
lows important pieces of work, like war, the hunt, and the har- 
vest. He concludes, with these striking words, which show 
how even economic wants are based in developed society upon 
social functions, “‘ But even our wants, considered from an eco- 
nomic point of view, exist only in very small part naturally ; 
it is only in the matter of bodily nourishment that our consump- 
tion is a necessity of nature; all else is the product of civiliza- 
tion, the result of the free creative activity of the human mind.” ! 

Surviving among many peoples to this day are labor songs, 


1 Biicher, ‘Industrial Evolution, translated by Wickett. New York, 1912, pp. 
27-209. 


298 OUTLINES OF SOCIOLOGY 


significant testimony to the part which rhythmic play has had 
in the development of industrious activity. In ancient times 
these labor songs alleviated the labor of the toiler. Aristophanes 
quotes one of these songs, the song of a miller, thus: 


“Grind, grind, my good mill, grind; 
Pittacus turns a mill as we all find. 
Grind, grind, my good mill, grind, 
This miller-king, oh, he’s the man to my mind.”’ 


It is said that negro laborers laying rails on a railroad in West 
Virginia chanted a song as they worked together in moving and 
placing the rails. Sven Hedin, the Asiatic traveler, says that 
the Thibetan boatman, as he rowed him across Lake Amchok- 
tso, cried out “in time with the oars, ‘Shubasa, ys aferin, 
bismillah, ya barkadiallah ’— to cite only a few words of his 
inexhaustible repertoire.’ He heard the workmen who stir 
the tea in the giant caldrons in the monastery at Shigatse, Thi- 
bet, singing a rhythmical song.* Kidd describes the Kaffirs at 
Cape Town, South Africa, seemingly a lazy lot, when called 
to their work of moving railway rails from one heap to another, 
thus: ‘‘ The natives all advance in a well-dressed line to the 
first rail, and then begin to chant a droning tune. At a certain 
note in the song all twenty natives stoop down and take hold 
of the rail, chanting as they stoop. When this is done they 
continue the chant, and, at another note, all raise the rail with 
great merriment and fun. They then continue the chant, and, 
at another note, all raise their right feet, and when the chant 
comes to the next period they advance one step and laugh again. 
Continuing the chant, they lift their left leg this time, raise it 
high in the air, laugh, chant, and take a step forward. When 
they have moved the rail to the new position they chant till 
they come to a certain phrase or ‘ Motif’ in their Wagnerian 
song, and with a yell and a volley of sound, drop the rail into its 
place, and then look at one another and laugh.” 

Individual Desires: Instinctive-Cultural in Origin. — 
(f) Religious Desires. — Having in mind the sectarianism of 


1 Aristophanes, Clouds (Everyman’s Library), footnote, p. 168. 

2 Trans-Himalaya, Vol. I, p. 362; Vol. II, pp. 38, 115, 124, 126. 

8’Kidd, The Essential Kafir, p. 395. For the origin of the labor song, see Thomas, 
Source Book for Social Origins, pp. 615-617. 


SOCIAL FORCES 299 


the last four centuries one might think that religion is essentially 
a divisive factor. Like all the other desires of which mention 
has been made, the religious desires under certain circumstances 
inspire division and make for social differentiation. It must 
not be forgotten, however, that social differentiation is as im- 
portant in the development of society as social unification. 
Nevertheless, on the whole the desires which find satisfaction 
in religion have played an important part in the development 
of social unity. 

By the religious desires is meant the craving for intimate 
relationship with the Unknown either through ecstasy or by 
means of rites of propitiation and submission. These relations 
have for their end release from the limitations of human weak- 
ness and ignorance through the help of the Unknown. 

The desires which give us the religious interests affect almost 
every phase of man’s life, especially during the early stages of 
social development. At first religion provides a means of 
defense against the unknown and dreadful powers of the Uni- 
verse. With the growth of groupal life religion becomes a means 
of group defense against its enemies. Then public worship 
develops. Bound up with man’s economic interests through his 
endeavors to bring his god to his aid in wresting a subsistence 
from a grudging nature, religion instituted feasts and the rites 
of communion. As soon as children became an asset either to 
the group or to the individual, the god was looked to for defense 
against childlessness. Hence, the religious feasts became sex- 
ual orgies, continued long after the belief which gave rise to 
them was forgotten, and after a quickened ethical conscience 
had begun to condemn such practices.1 

Moreover, with the rise of ancestor worship, and the increased 
importance which that belief gave to sons, religion became a 
stay of the family and of the authority of the father, thus 
strengthening social control through another avenue, the fam- 
ily,” in addition to that through the group. 

After ethics and religion had joined hands, the latter supplied 
new and powerful sanctions to conduct. On the other hand, 
ethics transformed religion from being the instrument whereby 
the gods were made to minister to the lust and greed of men 


1Cf. 1 Sam. 1: 1-20 with Am. 2:7, 8. 
2 See Part II, Chap. XII. 


300 OUTLINES OF SOCIOLOGY 


into an instrument of socialized personality. Not blessings in 
basket and store, but “clean hands and a pure heart ”’ now 
became the subject of prayer. Finally in such men as Socrates, 
Amos, Jesus, and Paul, religion became a socializing influence 
which moved them to sacrifice themselves in the interest of the 
state, and of humanity. It still remains one of the most potent 
sources of inspiration for lofty deeds, for quiet endurance of 
hard conditions, and for tasks at once heroic and seemingly 
hopeless. 

(g) Ethical Desires. — Growing out of group sanctions and 
developing in the individual through the “‘ dialectic of personal 
growth,” as already explained, the ethical desires remain an 
important factor in the building of society.» From the stand- 
point of society the ethical desires, expressing themselves chiefly 
as a passion for justice and a curbing of the egoistic impulses, 
make for social solidarity and stability of social relationships. 
They supply those less sordid motives which contribute to the 
perfection of social relationships. Ideals of service to others, 
of unselfish codperation, and of abstract idealism in social re- 
lationships take the place of the greed of gain, fear of enemies, 
and of “looking out for number one.” Joined with religion 
the ethical desires give to religion such content as is implied in 
“the Kingdom of God,” an ideal society. They cut through 
the other social forces and modify them. For example, the 
ethical desires curb the appetitive both by curbing hunger and 
love and by placing strict limits on the craving for wealth, that 
complex of appetitive and egotic desires. They triumph over 
the hedonic desires for the soft enjoyments of the senses, and 
send men out into adventures of daring which can be accom- 
plished only by overcoming fear and aversion to pain. They 
turn play into “ fair play,’’ without which the recreative desires 
would find but poor satisfaction. They changed ancient reli- 
gion into something different from a cheap form of life insurance, 
and transform modern religion from a spiritual “‘ fire escape ” 
into a mighty engine of social regeneration through a purging 
of the choked springs of human endeavor for social righteousness. 
They redeem the esthetic desires from the curse of aristocratic 
snobbery by making art unconsciously minister to the solution 
of the deep problems of social relationships, for example, the 
saving of childhood and motherhood, the stimulation of sym- 


SOCIAL FORCES 301 


pathy for the poor and the vicious. Who that has ever looked 
upon the picture of a Madonna and Child has gone away with 
the same ideal of motherhood and the same feeling about child- 
hood? Who can read Hood’s Song of the Shirt, or Mrs. Brown- 
ing’s Cry of the Children, and fail to feel sympathy for the over- 
worked seamstress and for the poor children driven to work in 
the factories in order that Greed might have its dividends? 
Finally, the ethical desires have mellowed the keen enjoyment 
of the exercise of the intellect with the tender feelings of sym- 
pathy and given them value and proportion. 

(h) Aisthetic Desires. — Ward has shown how the esthetic 
desires are grounded in animal life where they are real biotic 
forces working through selection and heredity.! There they 
manifest themselves in love of glorious plumage, of beautiful 
flowers, of sweet perfume, and of attractive fruits. The signifi- 
cance of beauty lay originally in the survival advantage which it 
conferred upon its possessors whether in plant or animal. Then 
the esthetic desires became ideals with all connection lost with 
their utilitarian origin. As ideals working their way out into 
all realms of human life they became social, or what Ward calls 
“ sociogenetic,”’ forces. We say that an ideal concerning a form 
of government or a plan of education is beautiful. We thus . 
testify that we have carried the esthetic over into the intel- 
lectual and the practical realms of life. 

The esthetic desires among primitive men are largely what 
they are among animals, a means whereby sexual selection 
secures a race suited to meet the conditions of survival. Their 
satisfaction led to an increase of the slowly diminishing birth 
rate of the genus homo as compared with that of most of the 
lower animals. With a dawning reason, however, mankind 
undertook to assist the slow and devious ways of nature. Hence 
arose the cuttings, paintings, and ornamentations of primitive 
peoples. Hence arose clothing with all its benefits and draw- 
backs. As soon as there arose artificial methods of stimulating 
the love of the beautiful by such means as those just mentioned, 
great impetus was given to man’s inventive powers. When 
one thinks of the amount of pain suffered by the people of every 
age in order to satisfy their cravings for what to them is beau- 
tiful, the mighty power of this set of desires becomes apparent. 

1 Pure Sociology, p. 433- 


302 OUTLINES OF SOCIOLOGY 


And when one remembers that this ideal of beauty is backed by 
two such sanctions as the appeal of the novel and the weight of 
the customary combined, one is prepared to appreciate its force 
as a socializing agency. 

Beginning with personal beauty, the craving for satisfaction 
was stimulated by what it fed upon. It could not stop with 
the person. It must extend to all other things with which man 
came into contact. The boat in which he worked or played 
must be adorned. The cave or the hut in which he dwelt, the 
weapons and tools, however crude, all felt the touch of his 
creative imagination and of his passion to realize in wood and 
stone, in color and form, his ideals of beauty. Moreover, often 
his religion gave the motif for his ideals of the beautiful, and 
thus two powerful desires found at once satisfaction in his crea- 
tions. 

From the standpoint of social achievement two results ap- 
peared, — each man’s intellect was stimulated and directed 
toward distinctively individual creative effort, whereas the group 
ideals were unified. And so two seemingly incompatible results 
were obtained from the attempt to satisfy his esthetic pas- 
sions, — tremendous growth of the activity of his intellect with 
corresponding increase of independent practical activity and at 
the same time a new growth of social activities in which he was 
forced to conform to the manners of his neighbors. 

Who can enumerate the social results of the attempts of man 
to satisfy these cravings? What cathedrals and temples have 
risen at the behest of these dominant desires! The architecture 
of cities, the pictures of a thousand galleries, the music of un- 
numbered symphonies, the literature of all the nations, in short, 
art in all its forms would not be even a name without the magic 
potency of the originally sexually conditioned esthetic desires. 
The rhythm of the millions of looms that weave the beautiful 
fabrics with which our bodies are clothed would never have been 
heard. We all would still be cave dwellers or animals of ar- 
boreal habits living for the day without panini of the 
beauties of Nature or care for them. 

(1) Intellectual Desires. — lf our interpretation of the origin 
of religion presented in a previous chapter is correct, it throws 
light also upon the development of intellect. Primitive man in 
the presence of forces which he did not understand first feared 


SOCIAL ‘FORCES 303 


instinctively, then acted impulsively, and, after the danger was 
past, thought. As an animal he may not have been able to 
do the last. Asa man his developing mind was not content that 
danger no longer threatened. It first asked, What was it? 
and then, Why was it? His first ‘‘ guesses at the riddle of 
existence ”’ we have already referred to in connection with the 
development of religion. His religion was shot through and 
through with a rude philosophy and adumbrations of science. 
He answered these questions of his developing curiosity in the 
only way possible to him, in terms of personality. In a way 
analogous to the nascent curiosity of the growing child and es- 
pecially like the gormandizing interest in facts manifested by 
the pubescent youth the primitive man who had developed to 
the animistic stage of culture hungered and thirsted for knowl- 
edge of this world in which he at last had come to have an intel- 
lectual interest. It gave him pleasure to guess at what all 
these phenomena meant which his observation had collected. 
He found a joy now not only in getting away from the danger 
which nature held, but in explaining in his way its mystery. 

Once a single individual had reached the stage of. finding his 
curiosity satisfied by an explanation which he had _ himself 
created in his own mind, he was marked as a superior man. 
Long before that stage was reached the medicine man, who 
acted as though he knew what to do in a crisis, had appeared 
upon the scene and because of his superior magic had secured 
the prestige which comes in every age to the man who does not 
hesitate when all others falter, but decides quickly, grasps the 
oars and pulls the sinking boat to safety. In a crisis which 
demanded action of some kind, to relieve the emotional tension 
of inaction and hesitation, he acted and secured such release. 
Probably it was the same man, although that is not certain, 
who offered the first explanation to awakening curiosity about 
the phenomena of this puzzling old world. At that stage any 
explanation served, as in the case of the awakening intellect of 
the child. The hungering souls about him were glad for any 
solution. 

Since intellectual efforts brought their own reward at such 
a time, a great spur was thereby given to all struggling human 
intellects apart from the joy which such creation gave to its 
author. With a certain type of mind the pleasure experienced 


304 OUTLINES OF SOCIOLOGY 


from such feats added to the range of enjoyments, — none too 
many, — of primitive man, and added a refinement of pleasure 
not to be found in the satisfaction of any other of his desires. 
This pleasure consisted in part of the rich emotional reaction 
following the resolution of his own bewildered mind. Where 
before had been confusion was now order; where had been 
uncertainty now was the clear, peaceful confidence of infallible 
truth. In part the pleasure consisted of the joy he experienced 
in resolving the uncertainties and confusion of others who had 
been in a like state of bewilderment with its emotional stress. 
His explanation was the trigger which released the spring of 
intellectual interest long held back. In this case, however, 
his pleasure came to him through the representative recon- 
struction of his own previous emotional stress of uncertainty and 
his own release. Again the satisfaction of his desires gave him 
pleasure and at the same time brought him social prestige. 

Moreover, every development of his mind which such exer- 
cises accomplished made for survival. Man’s intellect gave 
him dominion over Nature, over “‘ the fish of the sea, the birds 
of the heavens and over every living thing that moveth upon 
the earth.”?! Not only could he outwit them in the contest 
for survival, but he was enabled to capture them and by domes- 
tication subject them to his service. He now perceived more 
clearly advantageous relationships. Natural selection was 
supplemented and accelerated by rational selection. Now he 
could quicken cuts in his development by his own will. Con- 
scious rather than sympathetic social relationships became 
possible. Inventions in coéperation and social organization 
now arose with all the social and economic results which have 
followed intellectual activity in the history of mankind. Every 
other desire of man was now modified by reason of its being made 
the subject of rational thought. The gods in the heavens 
above or in the earth beneath and in the forest and mountain 
now changed their characters. Ethics and esthetics now 
underwent transformations revolutionary in their nature. Rea- 
son took the place of instinct, at first to the detriment of man- 
kind in many ways, but in the end to its advantage, bringing 
every instinct and appetite under the control of rationalized 
social standards. 


1 Gen. 1: 28. 


SOCIAL FORCES 305 


Out of these various desires grew by the formations of com- 
plexes of desires of various kinds certain great interests. They 
are the economic or wealth interests, the health interests, the polit- 
ical interests, the religious interests, and the intellectual interests. 

The Wealth Interests. — Compounded of certain appetitive, 
hedonic, egotic, and affective desires the wealth interests are 
among the most prominent that influence social life. As be- 
fore related, we have passed from the struggle for mere existence 
to the struggle for wealth. Men desire wealth for the power 
or comfort it will bring them in the use of material goods. There 
are all degrees of desire for wealth and its uses. In some in- 
stances it amounts to pure avarice, the hoarding and worship- 
ing of gold. In others it is a desire to satisfy the pleasures of 
the fleeting hour. Between these two extremes there are all 
degrees and varieties of desire. In most instances wealth is 
wanted for what it will do, that is, for what it will give in pleas- 
ure or profit to the one who possesses it. It brings means of 
learning, of gratifying esthetic taste, of travel, of satisfying 
the appetite for food or drink, of possessing the works of art and 
industry; and, perhaps most important of all from the social 
point of view, it furnishes the means whereby is gained social 
prestige. For it men toil and make sacrifices and temporarily 
deny themselves privileges and pleasures. For it men organize 
themselves into companies and shape their social life to meet 
the demands of the wealth-getting process. It is a marvelous 
social force modifying all the social processes of man. 

The Political Interests. — Under certain conditions politi- 
cal organization originated in the opportunity it offered to man’s 
desire for economic gain.! Historically not only the hope of 
gain, but also the fear of enemies, did much to bring government 
into being. Then there combined with these two the ambition 
of the masterful leader with his love of power and display. 
Thus greed, fear, ambition, and vanity all combined to provide 
those interests which we call political. 

More recently the state is coming to be looked upon as the 
socialized means whereby the power of the few and rich may 
be curbed in the interests of the many. The state is the guar- 

1 Giddings, Elements of Sociology, pp. 267-269; cf. Ross, The Foundations of So- 


ciology, p. 175. 
x 


B06. OUTLINES OF SOCIOLOGY 


antee to the common man as well as to the powerful that he 
shall have opportunity for the richest possible self-expression. 
It is the ideal not only of a benevolent but of a wise and rational 
father who presides over his growing and therefore immature 
and selfish children in order to see that they develop a socialized 
personality in the interest of the common good. 

What stupendous results these interests have wrought in 
human history! The social organization, which in the early 
period of social development became so all-inclusive that it 
engulfed for the first time tribes and races entirely diverse, cast 
a spell over the imagination of man which he has never escaped. 
The very bigness of it has made even the lust for empire of social 
significance in the development of society. Rooted in the love 
of booty and in the ambition of the leader, the passion for empire 
has drawn men together into closer social bonds, started the 
process of race amalgamation by the violent but effective 
methods of tyranny and oppression, and has tended towards 
the socialization of the world by developing a consciousness of 
kind among men as men. In the struggle for domination 
which characterized the nation-building age social organization 
has been perfected and men have learned how to conform to 
one another even though by compulsion. 

How the idea of the state as a social organization has affected 
all social organization! The idea of world dominion which 
found expression in the Roman Empire survived long after the 
Empire itself had forever vanished, and this idea gave shape 
to that loose confederation of states known as the Holy Roman 
Empire, which Voltaire characterized as neither Holy, nor 
Roman, nor an empire.! Long before that, however, the idea 
had taken possession of the Western Christian church and had 
begun to transform it into an organization modeled upon 
the earlier Roman Empire. Furthermore, the subtle influence 
of its glory on some of the modern European states is to be seen 
in the corrupted names of Czar and Kaiser, by which these states 
have paid tribute to the magic name of its rulers, the Cesars. 
In so doing, however, both the modern nations of Europe and 
the medieval church but followed the earlier example of the 
Jewish and Christian churches. Even after return from the 
Exile the Jews could not forget that they were descendants of 

1 Bryce, The Holy Roman Empire, 1904, p. 216. 


SOCIAL FORCES 307 


those who once knew a Hebrew kingdom. To the early Chris- 
tians following the example of their Master, the new society of 
Christians was a kingdom. On the other hand, in this repub- 
lic, the United States, what voluntary organizations apart 
from certain religious denominations are not organized in theory 
at least upon the representative republican basis? 

If that is true of the influence of the form of political insti- 
tutions, how much more true is it of the spirit. There was no 
real basis in the Roman Empire for a democracy of men, and for 
that reason, the simple democracy formed by Jesus and the 
early disciples could not continue out in the Roman: world. 
Consider the difference, for example, between the theory of 
equality of the sexes held by St. Paul and his actual practice in 
the face of views held by the members of his churches.! The 
Gentile Christians had no basis in their experience for such a 
democracy as the theory demanded, and therefore in the course 
of three centuries the church in the thought of Augustine be- 
came “ the City of God,” instead of a brotherhood, and the 
city which was the prototype of the church was not Jerusalem, 
but Rome.” The close analogy between the type of government 
in an early New England church and in the town meeting has 
often been remarked. More often than we think, unless we 
stop to consider, the political interests have influenced our 
social forms and our essential social spirit. 

The Religious Interests. — Developing from the desire of the 
soul for alliance with the Unknown in order to secure protec- 
tion, advantage, or release from the uncertainties of life, religion 
has played a great réle in the building of society. While re- 
ligious organizations took their form from the type of current 
political organization, religion in turn exerted an influence upon 
the social structure and the social ideals. Fear and ambition, 
chiefly, the affective, recreative, and religious desires, second- 
arily, combine to form that group of social interests known as 
the religious interests. 

As a method whereby the safety and preservation of the group 
were insured, religious rites and ceremonies contributed to the 

1Cf. Gal. 3: 28 and 1 Cor. 11: 3-12. 

2 See Augustine, The City of God, passim. On the influence of political structures 
and ideals upon the Christian Church, see Sohm, Outlines of Church History, trans- 
lation by Sinclair, New York, 1901, pp. 44-48. Moeller, History of the Christian 


Church, translation by Rutherford, New York, 1898, Vol. I, pp. 315-319. Hatch, 
The Organization of the Early Christian Churches, London, 1882, pp. 213-222. 


308 OUTLINES OF SOCIOLOGY 


formation of habits of codperation. Once a priesthood had 
grown up, the basis of an organization was laid, which, with its 
political connections, its control of the supernatural sanctions, 
and its alliance with the ruler of the group, greatly increased 
submission to a leading spirit and led on to social unity. Wor- 
ship at a common shrine stimulated common feelings and the 
generation of common sentiments. The first great artistic im- 
pulse finding permanent expression was aroused by religion. 
Temples and shrines growing out of graves perhaps were the 
world’s first architecture. As has been indicated before, re- 
ligion and philosophy to begin with were undifferentiated. 

The influence of religion has varied at different times in the 
history of society. In its origin it was the child of the doubt, 
and of mystery born of a crisis, of hope deferred, and of oppres- 
sion. The human soul refused to believe that it was destined 
for defeat either at the hands of men or the forces of Nature. 
Religion has continued to be the handmaid of those whose lot 
it has been to sit in darkness and in the shadow of death, and 
of those who had no helper. Its gods have been the helpers 
summoned by the unconquered human spirit, against the enemy 
and against those powers of Nature which were seen to be hostile. 
Religion has ever been exercised because it “ giveth power to 
the faint.’ As an instrument armed with which the natural 
powers of men may prove equal to a need or crisis it has sur- 
vived. Otherwise how has it happened that, if religion is a 
useless thing, if it plays no part in the means whereby survival is 
secured, that it has itself survived the shock of skepticism, the 
changes of form made necessary by the vicissitudes of social 
and intellectual readjustments throughout the ages? More 
and more religion has ceased to be a philosophy of the universe. 
It ceases to be what it was to primitive man, a means whereby 
he thought to understand a puzzling world. Science reigns 
over that sphere. Does Religion remain only a means whereby 
the things Science has not yet conquered may be explained? 
If so, is it not doomed to extinction? Is it merely a confession 
of the limitations of the human intellect in the presence of un- 
solved mysteries of life, death, and the Universe? Does it re- 
main merely a limbo of the unexplained? If it is merely that, 
its task is nearly done, for Philosophy and Science have not 
labored in vain. 


SOCIAL FORCES 309 


On the other hand, is its usefulness limited to the softening 
of the rigors of continued human oppression? Is it only a 
solace of the downtrodden in the place of social justice? Is it 
merely an angel of hope pointing a wistful finger from earth to 
heaven? If so, again, its task is nearly done. If it is only a 
poor substitute for social adjustment, what will happen to it 
when social justice shall have taken the place of oppression, 
when no longer hungry children shall cry for bread, and naked 
bodies shiver from cold, and when the oppressed of all nations 
shall have found a way to have their wants satisfied here on 
earth? ‘True, that glorious state of affairs does not seem to be 
imminent, but there are those —and they are not a few — 
who labor in the faith that such a state of things is possible. 
But when that state comes, where, then, will be the place for 
religion ? 

Let us begin by accepting all that Science has to teach — 
certainly scientific people can dono less. Let us confess that Re- 
ligion —the faith that there is ‘‘a power that makes for righteous- 
ness not ourselves ”’ in the world — is merely the result of man’s 
experience with the world. Even so, can we not say at least 
that man believes that good will triumph over evil because such 
a belief has made him better able to survive? Let us say that 
man believes in a god because such belief has made him better 
able to bear “‘ the buffetings of outrageous fortune,” better able 
to survive in a world of brutal and sometimes hostile forces by 
calling out the exertion of his best efforts in this struggle, by 
making him invoke not only the codperation of the higher 
powers of his nature, but also the help of his fellows, and that 
he believes this because through natural selection those who had 
not that faith, who had not the belief that unlocked the hidden 
resources of their souls and released the unknown powers of 
their beings, were exterminated as a general type.’ 

Then the question arises, Why has the world as constituted 
selected that attitude rather than the irreligious? What is it 
in the nature of things which makes faith a better characteristic 
from the standpoint of survival than doubt, belief better than 
skepticism, confidence that righteousness is stronger than 
wrong better than the contrary belief, a belief in the possibility 


1James, ““The Powers of Men,” American Magazine, Nov., 1907, Vol. 65, pp. 
56-65. ; 


310 OUTLINES OF SOCIOLOGY 


of progress better than a philosophy of despair? Why does 
not the Universe, if it is a chaos of blind forces, governed by the 
law of chance distribution, implant in man by the process of 
natural selection a working belief that the dominating power of 
the world is bad rather than good, that progress is impossible, 
that faith is vain and that all is vanity? Why has such a 
postulate never produced a conquering people? Pessimism 
has won no victories. Why? Perhaps that is a question we 
cannot answer at this time. It may, however, be suggestive 
to observe that the nature of man is such that a belief that some- 
thing better than he has now reached is possible, has made him 
that irresistible, ever struggling being who has become to a 
degree lord of the world. Religious faith may be a delusion, 
but if so, it is a beneficent one. It has made the common man 
struggle on when there was no earthly hope, it has stirred his 
flagging energies even by admitting that only heaven was left 
to him, making him a fighting, struggling being to the very 
end, in the face of despair and of certain death. 

When faith has ceased to hold out for him any hope of material 
advantage, it has inspired in him the hope of a nobler person- 
ality. After social adjustment of happy chance has made him 
independent of the help of the gods for material blessings, 
religion has held out to him the hope of a clean heart and an 
unselfish life and called him to the useless but inspiring work of 
building a character. Religion has at least the advantage that 
it has proved to be a working philosophy of life. Moreover, 
it has drawn together into codperation by means of the two 
most powerful social motives, compelling fear and deathless 
hope, men who could not be moved by conscience and who 
possessed no ability to secure their survival alone. Without it 
what would society be? What victories it has won in spurring 
on the tired spirit! 

The Intellectual Interests. — Modern social life demonstrates 
over and over again that knowledge is useful in every department 
of life and therefore must be attained if man is to reach what 
is called ‘‘ success.”” Acquaintance with the world surrounding 
man, both physical and social, is absolutely necessary to the 
attainment of the desired end of life. But there is a love of 
knowledge for its own sake which causes people to spend hours 
of toil and sacrifice and which yields to them great happiness 


SOCIAL FORCES 311 


and pleasure. These two ideas, namely, the desire of knowledge 
for practical purposes and the love of learning, have caused the 
building of our universities and colleges and the creation of our 
literature as well as the accumulation of scientific knowledge, 
all of which are powerful in influencing our social life. Besides 
this there are many wants arising from the activity of the intel- 
lect which are far reaching in their influence on the social life. 

Welfare Interests. — Numerous desires, some of them belong- 
ing to the class we have called instinctive as to origin, like the 
fear of pain, desire for food, fear of enemies, and others belong- 
ing to the group, denominated instinctive-social in origin, 
such as the desire for sympathy and sociability, love and hate, 
and the desire for self-expression, and still others from the last 
group in our classification, the instinctive-cultural group, 
like the religious and the ethical desires, combine to form what 
may be called the welfare interests of society. These interests 
modify the social activities in many ways, not only in modern 
civilization, but to a less extent also in all social groups as soon 
as the leaders of the group come to see, if only in a dim way, 
the bearing of these interests on the welfare of the community. 

An important group of welfare interests is the health interests, 
which very early are recognized as of vital concern to the com- 
munity. The preservation of the body, its protection from cold 
and heat, and other detrimental climatic effects occupies the 
attention of man to a considerable extent. The desire to in- 
crease physical well-being becomes not only an individual, but 
a social, function. It develops all forms of housing and clothing 
and city building which pertain to the health of the community. 
Sanitation and sanitary societies, the art of medicine and medical 
societies, are all based upon this desire for health. It has a vast 
influence, too, on the advancement of knowledge and causes 
scientific investigation and the development of scientific societies. 
In our educational institutions it develops athletic sports, and 
provides systems of physical exercise in the gymnasium. It 
lies at the basis of the eugenics movement. In these and many 
other ways these interests cause the development of social 
activities. 

Akin in many ways is the group of moral interests which 
serve to satisfy a desire for righteousness. It is based upon 
ideals of human conduct. People are influenced in their con- 


312 OUTLINES OF SOCIOLOGY 


duct in the satisfaction of this desire. It becomes a social force 
and as such enters into social ideals, thus furnishing a standard 
of action. It helps to determine social choices and social aims, 
and leads the community forward toward a standard of excel- 
lence. 

Yet another group of interests which may be classed here are 
the educational interests. They lie partly in the realm of in- 
tellectual interests, but serve also the general welfare. When 
education is looked at from the social point of view rather than 
from that of individual culture, there is then seen to be a basis 
for making education a social matter. The welfare of the group 
politically depends on the development of the citizens of the 
country. Economic prosperity of the group demands that the 
educational process take into consideration the vocational 
needs of the youth of society. It is coming to be held by many 
that even the moral development of society must be attended 
to in part by the school system. Thus, our educational interests 
are welfare interests and play an important réle in giving shape 
to social ideals and social structures. 

Conscious Social Effort. — Besides the forces of physical 
nature and those arising from individual desires, society as a 
unit exercises a general influence in causing its own develop- 
ment. There has always been a social pressure causing aggre- 
gation, combination, and organization. While there is no 
“‘ transcendent ego’”’ called the social mind, the members of a 
community slowly learn to feel, think, will, and act together. 
This unity of feeling and action was at first an unconscious 
force impelling society to do certain things, to observe customs, 
law, and order. In the beginning there was no conscious con- 
certed action to build society according to certain ideals or 
cause it to move in a certain direction. But, impelled by the 
influences of physical nature and by the effort of each individual 
to satisfy his own desires, society developed, became more and 
more settled in habit and custom, and acted increasingly as a 
unit. Finally, as customs became more regular and more uni- 
versally observed, there developed a public sentiment which the 
individual was obliged to follow or else be denounced as work- 
ing against the whole community. As this social judgment 
became more clearly defined, and the sentiment became more 
clearly expressed, public action was manifested so that the 


SOCIAL FORCES 313 


whole community observed the same habits and customs, and 
‘unconsciously acted together for the advancement of the whole 
social body. There sprang up an unwritten code of ceremonies, 
forms, and customs that was rigidly adhered to as a natural 
expression of social unity and codperation. Also the economic 
conditions forced people through a certain course or along cer- 
tain lines of conduct and modified all of the crude social activi- 
ties of the group. Habituated to act together, there finally 
arose an instinctive social choice whereby all members of the 
group who became subjected to the same conditions of life 
went the same way. That is, they made the same choices 
regarding self-preservation and social order, and observed the 
customs of their predecessors. In all this there was no formal 
attempt to regulate or reconstruct society. 

The process by which a group of social interests developed 
from the instinctive to socially conscious stage is illustrated by 
the welfare interests discussed above. At first concern for the 
general welfare was probably instinctive. Probably this con- 
cern grew up unconsciously by a process of natural selection. 
Rather early, however, the cleverest minds began to: perceive 
the advantage of taking thought about certain measures for the 
welfare of the whole group. At first such minds were few in 
number, and often they perceived its importance only in a dim 
fashion. Perhaps some of these now clearly perceived in- 
terests were but chance discoveries from activities inspired by 
superstitions arising from activities in the face of a crisis. 
Gradually, however, out of the jumble of actions and ceremonies 
thus arising there were selected by the growing intelligence of 
man certain ideals and activities which were perceived to have 
survival value. That is the beginning of social consciousness. 
The social mind then recognized itself and its power to modify 
and control social action. The telic idea of progress then 
appeared. Public opinion found expression in public decrees 
and laws for the order of social conduct. Social aims were 
made clear and the will of society was invoked to accomplish 
them. As public law became the organized force of public 
Opinion, society was made subservient to a coercive rule of 
action. The government now became the active agent for the 
enforcement of the will of the community. Gradually the ques- 
tion of the well-being of society became prominent as the goal 


314 OUTLINES OF SOCIOLOGY 


of conscious social effort. Behind the government that was in- 
stituted to enforce the law or public judgment was the standing 
army to support it. Society was determined to direct its own 
course even though it might be necessary to use physical force 
to accomplish its purposes. 

Besides this general social force that exercises social control 
arose many minor expressions of social order, such as private 
and voluntary organizations of religious societies, labor organi- 
zations, and fraternal orders, whose purposes are to impel 
society in a chosen direction. Public education also became a 
positive force in improving the types of liberty and in perpetuat- 
ing the institutions of the state, while the religious organization 
had its societies for the propagation of doctrines and its educa- 
tional institutions for the promotion and perpetuation of belief. 

As the forces of society became more exact they showed a 
tendency to return to more or less automatic social action. 
Organic society becomes to a certain degree a self-acting body, 
moving forward with its own momentum. Hence conscious 
effort was always limited in what it might do to change or modify 
social action. The social structure has been built and cannot 
be rebuilt in a day though society should will it. A law may 
be passed by the representatives of the people, but if it is not 
in accordance with the existing social forces or the normal 
progress of society, it will become useless and obsolete. Those 
who set out to reform society in accordance with a formula soon 
find they can do very little against the tide of social opinion or 
the underlying forces of social growth, because all reforms 
consist in the slow evolution of society and are dependent upon 
the action of constant social forces and well-established social 
laws. 


REFERENCES 


BALDWIN, J. M. Social and Ethical Interpretations, Chap. XI. 

Gippincs, F. H. Principles of Sociology, pp. 79-194, 263-375. 

Ross, E. A. Social Control, pp. 1-40, 87-360; Foundations of Sociology, 
Chaps. VII, VIII. 

SMALL, A. W. General Sociology, pp. 532-536. 

SMALL and VINCENT. Introduction to the Study of Society, pp. 173-177, 237- 
366. 

SPENCER, HERBERT. Principles of Sociology, Vol. I, pp. 564-575. 

Ward, Lester F. Dynamic Sociology, Vol. 1, pp. 468-482; Psychic Factors 
of Civilization, pp. 116-124; Pure Sociology, Chap. XII. 


SOCIAL FORCES 315 


QUESTIONS AND EXERCISES 


1. What is the difference between a physical force and a social force ? 

2. Classify the social forces, i.e. the forces which cause people to co- 
operate together in their social relationships, in a small community of say 
500 people. . Estimate the importance of each of these forces in that com- 
munity. If possible make a better classification than any of those pro- 
posed, but be prepared to defend your classification against those given in 
the text. 

3. What social force or forces give rise to the formaton of a bank? A 
woman’s club? A literary society? A political party? A farmers’ mar- 
keting codperative association? An art society? A sewing society? 

4. What social forces, if any, may be cited to account for a decreasing birth 
rate? 


CHAPTER III 
SOCIAL LAWS 


To one accustomed to the use of the term “ law ”’ in physical 
sciences, a word of caution is necessary with respect to the 
term when it is used in sociology. By the term “ social law ” 
we mean a statement of the relation which exists between social 
phenomena; between orders of social phenomena; or between social 
phenomena and other phenomena. This relation may be one of 
coexistence, one of sequence, or one of cause and effect. These 
laws, however, differ from the laws, for example, of physics in 
that they are less exact; for, since human beings possess thought 
and will, their actions are not so definitely determined as are 
those of atoms. Human beings exercise purpose; they act with 
reference to perceived ends. Thus, while they react to given 
stimuli with more or less regularity, there is less certainty that 
all will act in the same way than there is in the case of atoms 
subjected to some one of the simple forces.! 

While it is an easy matter to discern the operation of the 
social forces that have brought about the origin and growth of 
society and caused its activities, it is difficult to discover the 
laws according to which these forces act; that is, the social laws. 
That there are laws which describe the movement and results 
of social forces is evident from the recurring regularity of social 
movements; but to define and formulate these laws is, indeed, 
a difficult matter. Considerable progress, however, has been 
made by some of the more recent writers on sociology. 

Laws of M. Tarde. — M. Tarde, in his work on Social Laws, 
has tried to show that the laws which describe the action of the 
social forces may be reduced to the following three great move- 
ments: “ repetition, opposition, and adaptation.” He proceeds 


1Cf. Ellwood, Sociology in its Psychological Aspects, pp. 73-81. Ward draws a 
distinction between ‘‘law” and “principle.” A law, in his view, explains nothing, 
while a principle is an explanation. See Pure Sociology, p. 169. 


316 


SOCIAL LAWS 317 


to show that it is through the repetition of phenomena in a given 
group that the law or rule of action appears; that it is through 
opposition that comparison evolves; and, finally, that it is by 
the adaptation of ideas and ideals, customs and traditions to 
others that homogeneity is brought about. — 

The scientist, no doubt, lays the foundation for a new truth 
when he discovers repetitions of the phenomena under considera- 
tion. He observes, for instance, a certain movement of the 
heavenly bodies. If it is not repeated, he can make no deduc- 
tions; but by means of a series of repetitions, he discovers that 
the process is not accidental, but in accordance with certain 
laws. Again, the scientist is quick to observe in all organic life, 
differences or oppositions; the struggle for existence presents a 
constant differentiation. Finally, in studying the adaptation of 
one part to another, the scientist takes the third step toward 
the formation of a new law. In the same way, the initial step 
in the shaping of social laws, is the discovery of constantly re- 
curring phenomena. The first view of society, it is true, shows 
a heterogeneous mass of phenomena in which there appears 
little order; it is only by careful study and observation that an 
orderly arrangement and movement are discovered. But just 
as the whole universe at first seems to be a mass of unrelated 
objects and phenomena and subsequently yields to order and 
symmetry, so the whole mass of apparently unrelated social 
phenomena discloses an orderly arrangement to the scientific 
mind. Thus, while no one can doubt the constancy of “ repe- 
tition, opposition, and adaptation,” there are, within these three 
great fundamental movements, more specific kinds of action, 
operating within more limited areas. Some of these will be 
briefly discussed. 

Laws of Individual Choice. — These laws are universal and 
thoroughly demonstrated by practical life. Beginning with the 
simplest principles relating to individual life, we have the follow- 
ing: Each individual seeks the largest return for the least sacrifice. 
What is meant by this is that whether we consider wealth 
getting or wealth using, religion or art, culture or learning, or, 
indeed, life in any of its various important phases, the individual 
is seeking his highest good or best interests so far as his powers 
or capacities will permit. The laborer seeks the highest wage 
he can command; the professional man strives for the position 


318 OUTLINES OF SOCIOLOGY 


that will yield him the largest return for his efforts; and the 
business man enters the field which will most rapidly increase 
his wealth. The expression “ largest return ”’ includes, to be 
sure, a number of things; it involves physical health, mental 
development, material welfare, and social well-being. But the 
truth is a universal one and manifests itself in all our services; 
even a man engaged in missionary work would endeavor to seek 
the largest results possible from the smallest amount of work 
in order that he might do the most possible for those for whom 
he was laboring. 

Another of these laws is: Each individual has a schedule of 
choices ranging from the most desirable objects to the least desirable. 
This law, observed primarily in economic life, serves as the 
basis for market valuation, and furnishes the opportunity for 
exchange. The demand schedule for articles of utility is mani- 
fested in the practical affairs of life; but the law operates with 
no less exactness in other departments of human activity, for | 
individual motives vary in proportion to their valuations of the 
various objects of life. Of two men, both laying stress on the 
material objects of life, one may put food first and then clothing, 
books, works of art, and furniture, while another may, under 
different circumstances, give the following order: books, works 
of art, food, furniture, and clothing.. Again, others may make 
schedules like this: wealth, virtue, learning, public approba- 
tion, and leisure; or like this: virtue, learning, wealth, leisure, 
and public approbation.! 

This leads to another well-established principle; namely, 
that Individual minds respond similarly to the same or like stimuli.? 
This law is a recognition of the universality of certain charac- 
teristics of the human mind; but it must not be carried too 
much into detail, or it will conflict with the one previously 
stated. Nor is it best to presume too much upon the constancy 
of human nature; for, while the stimulus of hunger or cold may 
in general affect individual minds in the same way, the actions 
resulting from these may be of entirely different nature. One 
may labor in order to reach given results, whereas another may 
steal to satisfy his wants. Or if a flood renders many people 
homeless, most of those not afflicted will respond, in one way 


1 See Giddings, Principles of Sociology, p. 147. 
2 See Giddings, Inductive Sociology, p. 60. 


SOCIAL LAWS 319 


or another, to a call for help; but there are, at times, some who 
will give no assistance whatever. 

The Laws of Social Choice. — Similar to the laws of individual 
choice are the laws of social choice, for the latter are only the 
generalization and unification of the former. There is, there- 
fore, a schedule of social choices by means of which the social 
mind chooses its ideals and types and establishes the bases of 
social action. 

According to Giddings, the most important ideals of social 
choice, in their relative order of influence, are as follows: 
(1) force or power, (2) utilitarian virtues, (3) integrity, and 
(4) self-realization.. That the public mind values force or 
power above all other things, seems, at first, to be untrue; but 
a little reflection on the judgments of society will convince one, 
albeit against one’s will, that such is the case. While the utili- 
tarian virtues, that is, the quality of usefulness, generally 
precede integrity in the schedule of the normal society, there 
are communities which choose integrity as a higher ideal. 
There can be no doubt that self-realization is properly the last 
in the category; for, while society recognizes the importance of 
the individual and his prosperity, his well-being, as a direct aim, 
is not uppermost in the social choice. 

It may be inferred from the foregoing that whether the 
choices of a society are radical or conservative depends, in a 
large measure, upon the variety of interests of such a society 
and the degree of harmonious combination of the same. The 
society having a variety of interests will be radical in its choices, 
and the society that has harmonized its interests will be con- 
servative. Hence it is that “‘ only the population that has many, 
varied, and harmonious interests is consistenily progressive im 1s 
choices”’;* for, where the radical and conservative element is 
nearly balanced, society is likely to be freed, on the one hand, 
from impulsive action, and, on the other, from inertness. 

The Laws of Social Aims. — Primarily, normal progress, 
rather than a perfected system, is the social ideal. The con- 
stant changes of society make it highly probable that an auto- 
matic system which acts with perfect precision will never appear. 
The perfect society is always just beyond, in the next century 
or centuries. But when the next century comes, the plan is 


1 [bid., p. 177. 2 Tbid., p. 181. 


320 OUTLINES OF SOCIOLOGY 


changed; and what was formerly desired is now found to be 
useless. Hence if a society is normal in its parts and if it is 
progressive, — that is, if it is constantly moving toward its 
ideals, even if these ideals are constantly undergoing change, — 
then that society is fulfilling the highest aims. 

The greatest good ?o the greatest number, or social well-being, is 
the aim of social action. ‘This aim, according to Benjamin Kidd, 
looks to the future as well as to the present. In his Western 
Civilization: Kidd has elaborated this idea under what he 
terms “‘ Projected efficiency.”” He shows that in our attempts 
to realize the present we are living for future good; in building 
the social structure, we are looking always to the superstructure 
which is to be built in the future. Hence the greatest good to 
the greatest number must apply even to generations yet unborn. 
It is probable, however, that ‘‘ projected efficiency ’’ — when 
it occurs at all—is largely an unconscious by-product of society’s 
effort to survive under the difficulties of the here and now. 

The Laws of Imitation. — M. Tarde has shown us how im- 
portant, in the development of social life, is imitation. Per- 
haps there is no other medium through which we receive more 
than we do through this practice of imitation. In the first few 
years of its life the child acquires nearly all of its habits, and a 
considerable part of its knowledge, by means of imitation, and 
it is the imitative child that makes the most rapid advancement. 
Among primitive races, too, the beginnings of civilization are 
marked by this influence; nor have we ever, for that matter, 
lost sight of it in the higher development of civil life. The 
customs and habits of a single people are soon imitated the world 
over; the spread of the industrial arts, the advancement of 
science and learning, and the use of modern appliances, all point 
to the importance of imitation in the practical affairs of life. 

M. Tarde has given us two laws which seem to be thoroughly 
established in all processes of association. The first one, “‘ In 
the absence of interferences, imitation spreads in geometrical pro- 
gression,” assumes that there must be social contact. If an 
individual imitates another, there are two sources for the spread- 
ing of the idea. If one individual imitates each of these, there 
are four sources, then sixteen, and so on in geometrical progres- 
sion. Ina large social group where many may imitate the one, 


1 Benjamin Kidd, Western Civilization. 


SOCIAL LAWS 321 


imitation may proceed very rapidly; the psychology of the 
mob demonstrates the rapidity in which social action proceeds 
through imitation. This law is important in accounting for the 
rapid spread of news, the adoption of new customs and language 
— especially of slang phrases. 

The other important law is that “ Imitations are refracted by 
their media.” ‘The term, borrowed from physics, is very appro- 
priate in its application. The individual who attempts to imi- 
tate his neighbor in walk, speech, dress, and personal habits, 
will never exactly represent the original; the nation that 
attempts to use the civilization of another will yet find differ- 
ences between itself and the original — differences for better or 
for worse. These differences demonstrate that the individual 
or community that attempts to imitate is, in itself, an original 
source of power and will change what it borrows to suit its own 
accepted ideas or its own environments. If one hundred people, 
standing just close enough together for each to hear what his 
next neighbor says, should attempt, one after another, to recite 
a given passage, each one getting his version from the one who 
has last spoken, the passage would frequently become so changed 
as to be unrecognizable. In the same way, the degree to which 
the tales of the neighborhood enlarge or become distorted de- 
pends upon the character of the media through which they pass.1 

The Law of Sympathy. — The degree of sympathy increases as 
the resemblance increases.2, Sympathy is strongest among those 
groups that have many activities in common. For example, 
there is, in general, more sympathy of man for man than of 
man for the dumb animals. Common interests, common sen- 
timents and feeling, draw people close together and increase their 
sympathy with one another. The races that have the same 
degree of culture develop a common interest and hence a common 
sympathy. And among individuals who associate on the same 
plane, or are engaged in the same pursuits, the bond of sym- 
pathy is much stronger than it is when differences in character, 
culture, or occupation are clearly recognized. 

The Law of Conscious Resemblance. — The consciousness 
of resemblance and of sympathy causes people to be mutually 
attracted. The recognition that people are like ourselves in 

1 Tarde, The Laws of Imitation (translation by Elsie Clews Parsons). 
2 See Giddings, Inductive Sociology, p. 108. 
we 


S22 OUTLINES OF SOCIOLOGY 


feeling, thought, tastes, and sympathies, causes us to draw near 
them and to be attracted to them. To know that people feel 
as we feel and think as we think is the foundation of socializa- 
tion. Giddings has named this principle “ consciousness of 
kind.” In his explanation he has attempted to show, though 
not always quite conclusively, it is true, that consciousness of 
kind is the primal social force by which people are attracted to 
one another, and through which they become socialized. While 
we may object to its being called a primal social force, it is true 
that groups of people are joined in social union by sympathy 
and a recognition of like-mindedness. Yet, however strongly 
people are attracted by mutual likeness, we must recognize the 
importance of mutual interests of various kinds for the perpetua- 
tion of the association. And as the individual instinctively 
chooses his companions upon the recognition of some common 
thought or feeling, some material or social condition, so the 
religious societies, fraternal orders, clubs, and social gatherings, 
are all influenced in their development, by this principle. In- 
deed, the stability of our nation depends upon the consciousness 
that we advocate certain principles concerning the rights, duties, 
and privileges of citizens — that we hold the same ideals of 
freedom, liberty, and public order. This consciousness is a uni- 
versal condition of all social processes. 

Laws of Impulsive Social Action. — “ Impulsive social action 
tends to extend and to intensify in a geometrical progression.” } 
There is a similarity between this law and the first law of imi- 
tation. While imitation and impulsive social action may be 
widely different, they have a tendency to act at the same time 
and, to a large extent, in the same way. The social mind is 
made up of individual minds which think, feel, and will together. 
Impulsive social action, therefore, must occur from the instan- 
taneous movements in the same way and for the same purpose, 
of the individuals of a group; but how rapidly these impulses 
may be transmitted from one to another through imitation 
cannot be measured. A glance of the eye, a movement of the 
hand, may communicate an impulse from one mind to another. 
The utterance of a single sentence may not only bring every 
mind to the same attitude, but it may cause the immediate 
action of all. 

1 See Giddings, Inductive Sociology, p. 176. 


SOCIAL LAWS 323 


“Impulsive social action, as a rule, varies inversely with the 
habit of attaining ends by indirect and. complex means.” ! The 
more complex society becomes, the less it is subservient to im- 
pulsive action. The child has a simple and direct method, — 
action follows at once upon suggestion, — while the adult tends 
more often under ordinary circumstances to deliberate and arrives 
at a conclusion and attains results by a circuitous path. The 
society which has no deliberative assembly often will be stampeded 
into action by an impulsive individual; that society which has 
developed deliberative devices like parliamentary rules, will 
give time for further reflection before it acts. Here, as else- 
where in social life, changes always move from a center in every 
direction; hence the ratio of change will be by squares. But 
it must be remembered that social forces seldom move in a 
straight line, but are always deflected by other forces. 

Laws of Tradition. — Tradition had, in primitive society, a 
wonderful influence over the lives of men, and to some extent, 
it continues to exercise this influence; but as the world becomes 
scientific, the power of tradition declines. This fact may be 
reduced to the following law: ‘ Tradition 1s authoritative and 
coercive in proportion as its subject matter consists of belief rather 
than of critically established knowledge.’ ? It is a long road from 
tradition to critical history, but it is a very sure one in the 
destruction of the authority of tradition. Again, ‘‘ Tradition 
is authoritative and coercive in proportion to its antiquity.”* The 
ancient good is that which appeals to the minds of people who 
are not ready or willing to submit to the régime of critical 
knowledge. Belief in traditions will not yield readily to the 
formal test of rational processes; but conceptions of things 
that happened last year are much more easily eradicated from 
the social mind than are those concerning things that happened 
thousands of years ago — conceptions which have received the 
sanction of succeeding generations through centuries. The chief 
service of science to the modern world consists, therefore, in 
bringing people to accept things which can be demonstrated 
to be true either by rational deductions or by a formidable 
array of facts. Just as, in the words of the poet, ‘‘ Time 
makes ancient good uncouth,” science makes much of tradition 
valueless. 

1Jbid., p. 177. 2 Tbid., p. 207. 3 Thid. 


324 OUTLINES OF SOCIOLOGY 


The Law of the Development of Social Structures. — One 
phase of this law has been pointed out by both Gumplowicz and 
Ratzenhofer.1 As they stated the law, it ran something like 
this: Whenever two societies conjugate, through a process of con- 
quest of one by the other, a great and rapid evolution of structure 
succeeds. This law needs very little elucidation; it is based 
upon historic induction. Famous examples of its working are 
to be found in the subjugation of the Canaanites by the Israel- 
itish tribes and in the Norman Conquest of England. And 
always when victorious people face the question as to what 
they shall do in the new circumstances which a conquest has 
forced upon them, they at once begin to make some adjustment 
of relations between the conquered and themselves. In the 
first place, sovereignty is imposed, and the sovereign commands 
the conquered. It is not long, however, before questions of 
relationship must be enacted into law. At first the will of the 
conqueror, then later the will of the conquering people, regulates 
the life of the conquered. As the relationships become increas- 
ingly complex, more and more adjustments have to be made. 
The amalgamation of the two peoples, begun, as a rule, by the 
conquerors, who took the women of the conquered as wives 
and concubines, creates many difficulties — religious as well as 
industrial. At first the conquered are a servile class attached 
to the land; but when the half-breeds come to the age when 
work must be done by them, the early regulations become un- 
satisfactory, and adjustments must be modified. Moreover, 
the children of the conquerors by the women of the conquered 
usually follow the religion and language of the mothers. This 
fact necessitates regulations concerning the use of language and 
the practice of religion as between the two peoples. In all these 
ways, therefore, and for these and other obvious reasons, the 
social structure becomes increasingly complex. 

But is not this law, as stated, only a part of a wider generali- 
zation? Not only in case of conquest do structures multiply 
and social regulation and institutions rapidly increase; but 
whenever there is a conflict between different cultures, or when 
classes with widely different interests clash with each other, 
the same thing occurs. Witness the tremendous increase of 


1Gumplowicz, Der Rassenkampf, Secs. 34, 35. Ratzenhofer, Sociologische Er. 
kenniniss, Chaps. XIII, XIV. 


SOCIAL LAWS: 325 


social structure in Great Britain, in the days since the Industrial 
Revolution; yet there was no conquest as in the days of William 
the Norman and his successors. But conquest or no conquest, 
the last century has witnessed a most remarkable increase of 
social machinery for adjusting the relations between classes of 
Great Britain’s population whose interests have come to be rec- 
ognized as antithetical to each other as never before. Laborer 
and Capitalist, and, to a less degree, Landowner and Tenant, 
have become class conscious. The one has endeavored to 
exploit the other as truly as ever Norman king or baron tried to 
exploit the conquered Saxons. But as a result, there has fol- 
lowed that remarkable series of laws and institutions which has, 
in the last century, made England the pioneer, in many ways, 
in the adjustment of social relations. Consider, too, the great 
increase of social machinery in this country — machinery for 
making possible what we call social justice. At first the rail- 
roads and every kind of industry were favored; the laborer 
and the public were given no rights by the law. Gradually the 
interests of the laboring and consuming classes became more 
and more prominent; and recently there has been great activity 
in remaking laws and institutions in the interests of these classes. 
Another illustration of the same sort, but in a different realm, 
is to be found in the growth of tenement-house regulation fol- 
lowing upon the influx of great hordes of Europeans into our 
Eastern cities. Sanitary regulations are due, in part, at least, 
to an arousal of class consciousness by this contact with 
unfamiliar peoples. An even more striking illustration is sup- 
plied by the laws by which California aimed at the regulation 
of the Japanese in that state. Can we not say, therefore, that 
whenever two or more peoples, or class-conscious groups, come into 
contact with each other in one geographic unity, social structures 
and institutions will experience rapid development, provided one 
party struggles to dominate the others ? 

The Law of Spiritual Development. — This law, formulated 
by Tiele and cited by Ross, points out the importance to mental 
and social progress, of the mental contact of people in different 
stages of development. Leaving out of account, then, the 
natural capabilities of men and peoples, we may say that all 
development in spiritual matters depends on the stimulating 
effects of contact with a different stage of culture upon the self- 


326 OUTLINES OF SOCIOLOGY 


consciousness of a people! Illustrations of this law can be 
found in abundance. It has often been remarked that, as soon 
as the Civil War was over, a new spirit manifested itself in both 
the North and South, but especially in the North. The soldiers 
of the North had been living for a term of years in the South. 
There they had become acquainted with a slightly different cul- 
ture and stage of social development; there they had found social 
institutions which had grown up out of slavery. To those who 
returned, therefore, the war was a liberal education. They 
had traveled and had observed new scenes; they had come in 
contact with new social and industrial situations and had had 
their minds stirred by contrasts. A similar thing happened 
after our recent war with Spain. Travel over seas and among 
strange peoples, contact with new institutions, have had a most 
wonderfully stimulating effect upon our people. Immigration 
has done the same thing. It is no accident that a country re- 
ceiving a constant supply of new immigrants, provided they are 
not too dissimilar, comes to have a plastic mind. Our tolerance 
of European dances and foods, our interest in such European 
political and social experience as the various social insurance 
schemes, are due, in great part, to our acquaintance with Euro- 
pean institutions, either through the immigrants or through our 
tourists and writers. Every one who has traveled appreciates 
how new scenes and new customs stir the mind and generate 
tolerance. 

The Law of Survival and Progress. — That law of survival 
which applies to the physical development of the individual 
animal structure, we can extend to social institutions as follows: 
Institutions become strong through use, and become weak or extinct 
through disuse. ‘The track of social progress is strewn with the 
ruins of social institutions that have lost their usefulness. 
When a society at a given stage of progress adopts certain cus- 
toms, habits, or institutions, it retains these only so long as they 
perform normal functions of social life; when they are no longer 
useful, they are cast off. The statute books are filled with laws 
once alive, now dead; the habits of life to-day are far different 
from those of centuries past; and as society unfolds itself in 
human progress, there is a constant elimination of the unfit. 
Old forms and functions give way to new ones; those that are 


1Tiele, Elements of the Science of Religion, Vol. I, p. 239. 


SOCIAL LAWS’ 327 


inadaptable to the normal life of society will pass away through 
non-use, just as biological forms or functions have become 
extinct through atrophy. 

The increasing importance, in social progress, of the develop- 
ing human mind is indicated by a law formulated by Ward. 
It is, in essence, that the spontaneous progress which one finds in 
the more undeveloped societies gives way to telic or purposive prog- 
ress, and individual telesis or direction of progress gives way, on 
the whole, to collective telesis.1 

The foregoing laws are not, by any means, all that have been 
formulated; but so far as they have been presented, they may 
be assumed to be general. And they may be taken as typical 
of the social laws thus far formulated. 


REFERENCES 


Extwoop, C. A. Sociology in its Psychological Aspects, pp. 74-81. 

FAIRBANKS, ARTHUR. Introduction to Sociology, pp. 108-118. 

Gippincs, F.H. Principles of Sociology; Inductive Sociology, pp. 400-4109. 

Ross, E. A. Social Control, pp. 41-88; Foundations of Sociology, Chap. ITI. 

SPENCER, HERBERT. First Principles, pp. 381-396; Principles of Sociology, 
Vol. I, pp. 745-761; Vol. II, pp. 568-667. 

TARDE, GABRIEL. Les lois del’ Imitation, pp. 158-212; Social Laws, passim. 

Warp, LESTER F. Psychic Factors of Civilization, pp. 125-130. 


QUESTIONS AND EXERCISES 


1. What is the difference, if any, between a physical law and a social 
law? See Ross, Foundations of Sociology, pp. 43-48. 

2. State the difference between a law and a principle in sociology. See 
Ward, Pure Sociology, pp. 169 ff.; Ellwood, Sociology in its Psychological 
Aspects, pp. 74-81. 

3. Read Ross, Foundations, pp. 43-44, and criticize the statement that 
each individual seeks the largest return for the least sacrifice. 

4. Of what value to the student of society is the law that each individual 
has a schedule of choices ranging from the most desirable objects to the least 
desirable ? 

5. Give an illustration of the law that individual minds respond in the 
same way to like stimuli. What is the importance of this law to the student 
of society? 

6. What bearing upon the law of social preference has the fact that you 
can get more people out to see what promises to be a “good” prize fight or a 
football game than to hear the discussion of a welfare project ? 


1 Cited by Ross, Foundations of Sociology, p. 64. 


328 OUTLINES OF SOCIOLOGY | 


7. If it is true that a society made up of diverse elements of population 
is likely to be radical in its choices, what are likely to be the social choices 
of a population like that on the East side of New York? 

8. The slit skirt first appeared on Fifth Avenue. Within a year or two 
a modified form of it might be seen, worn by the poor, on the street cars of 
Second Avenue. What social law does that fact illustrate? 

9. In accordance with what law do deliberative societies forbid the pass- 
ing of a law with one reading, or the passing, on the day it is proposed, of an 
amendment to an important instrument like a constitution? 

10. What illumination does the law of the development of structures 
throw upon the fact that ‘‘grandfather clauses” occur only in the constitu- 
tions of the Southern States of the United States of America? 


CHAPTER “IV 
THE SOCIAL MIND 


Primary Result of Association. — Society has grown because 
of association; for it was the coming together of people that 
made it possible for society to exist. One of the primary results 
of this association is “ interstimulation and response,” as Gid- 
dings calls it, between the various individuals of the group. 
Whenever there exists such reciprocal influence of one mind 
upon another, whether the minds agree or not, then you have 
the conditions antecedent to the formation of the social mind.! 
The end of the process is the development of sufficiently similar 
feeling, thinking, and willing, on the part of these associated 
individuals, to enable them to continue their association. With 
this growing likeness, however, there always develops mental 
differentiation — the rise of new thoughts, feelings, and volitions.? 

Ellwood has said, ‘‘ The term social mind, in other words, is 
a convenient term to express the mental unity of our social life. 
This unity is a very real thing; and even though the term 
social mind is open to many objections because of possible mis- 
understandings, it is certainly convenient to have such a term 
to describe the functional unity which arises from interaction 
between many minds.” 

This mental unity, then, is what goes by the name of the 
social mind. There is no transcendental ego over and above 
the action of individual minds; nevertheless, there are mental 
results arising from interstimulation and response. These re- 
sults manifest themselves in the unity of thought, sentiment, 
and feeling of the individual minds which come into contact in 
a community, and in the diversity of feeling, thought, and pur- 
pose just referred to. The popular expression for the results of 
this social mind is ‘‘ the moral sense of the community,” public 

1 Ellwood, Sociology in its Psychological Aspects, pp. 339, 331. 


2Cf. Giddings, Inductive Sociology, pp. 67, 68; Descriptive and Historical So- 
ciology, pp. 184-185 ; with Cooley, Social Organization, p. 4. 


329 


330 OUTLINES OF SOCIOLOGY 


will, or public opinion. While there is no independent and 
greater mind which somehow includes the individual minds, 
there is a relationship between each separate individual which 
conditions his thinking, feeling, and willing, and frequently 
coerces him into a certain line of-action. This mind is brought 
into being by means of concerted action; and once having 
developed, and once having been organized, it adds to society’s 
present volitions the fund of experimental knowledge. This 
fund of ‘‘ capitalized experience ”’ produces steadiness and con- 
stancy of the social mind and makes us sometimes feel that its 
results are so like those of the individual mind, though grander 
and more impressive, that we are likely to think of the social 
mind as something separate and apart. As Cooley remarks, 
however, there are not ‘‘ two kinds of mind, the social and the 
individual mind. When we study the social mind, we merely 
fix our attention on larger aspects and relations, rather than on 
the narrower ones of ordinary psychology.” ! 

In the case of the social mind, the process of formation, or 
‘‘ integration,” as Giddings calls it, is very like the process of 
making up one’s individual mind. ‘The social mind, however, 
results not from the activity of an organism, — the brain, in 
the case of the individual, — but of an organization, — society. 
The connections are not organic connections — nerves — but 
organized methods of communication. For example, when the 
flood burst upon the inhabitants of the Kansas River Valley, 
every one was surprised. ‘The feeling of surprise was universal, 
not only with the afflicted, but with those who were in sym- 
pathy with them. Next came a feeling of consternation as loss 
of life and damage of property seemed imminent; the feeling of 
sympathy for all those who suffered was universal, and the 
whole community felt as one man. After the expression of 
sympathy came the planning for relief. There were many 
diverse opinions as to methods to be pursued; but, finally, 
through discussion at public gatherings, people came to an agree- 
ment as to the best course to pursue. This common thought 
about what was to be done was finally shared by a large majority 
of the community. Then came the will to put this plan into 
execution. Officers were elected, committees appointed, and 
funds raised, for the accomplishment of the desired relief. Thus 


1 Cooley, Social Organization, p. 4. 


THE SOCIAL MIND 331 


was the social mind made up, or “integrated,” in feeling, thought, 
and purpose; and thus was social action produced. If, here 
and there, a different feeling prevailed in an individual, or 
different thoughts concerning methods appeared, these were 
lost sight of in the final result. Any opinion that was expressed 
entered into the sum total of considerations on which the final 
decision was based; but it was modified by the weight of other 
feelings or opinions. Thus the social mind represents the 
organization of individual minds, and its products the organiza- 
tion of the feelings and thoughts of individuals. But the stimu- 
lation of the thoughts of individuals, in addition to making it 
more maturely deliberate, intensifies the social mind; for the 
purposes of individuals are more firmly held by reason of the 
common consciousness that like feelings, thoughts, and purposes 
are held by others. 

Social Consciousness. — While the social mind is composed 
of reflex activities of the individual minds of which society is 
composed, there is a marked difference between the conscious 
effort of the individual and the conscious efforts of society; the 
former may, in fact, exist without the latter. Each individual 
may go about his vocation, knowingly seeking his own interests, 
— interests which may be for or against those of society at 
large. Yet the individual always constitutes a part of the social 
life; and a large number, choosing the same economic life, are 
working together to build up a given part of society or to exer- 
cise a special function. Most of the industries, for example, 
have been built up without regard to the welfare of the com- 
munity. There is, indeed, no general judgment of society 
limiting the number of goods in a given line that shall be manu- 
factured within a stated period of time, there are no laws limit- 
ing the number of railroads that shall be built or the number of 
stores that a town shall have; but there are general laws of 
supply and demand, rather indefinite to be sure, which tell the 
manufacturer or the merchant what he shall do for his own 
interest. While he is serving society in a general way, there- 
fore, his primary object is, of course, to increase his income. 
And the fact that individuals seek their own interests, regardless 
of the general effect of their actions on social relations, has given 
rise to a sort of unconscious development of social institutions. 
In fact, society has been built largely by this unconscious co- 


332 OUTLINES OF SOCIOLOGY 


operation. But society reaches a state in which it is conscious 
of what the whole group does for its welfare or its detriment; 
and being conscious, it seeks to shape the general course of 
social action by such carefully devised means as legislation, 
education, and police regulation. De Greef has shown that 
nearly all the human wants which have to do with economic 
production and distribution and with the perpetuation of the 
race, have risen through unconscious social conditions. Thus 
it is easy to infer that the activities dependent upon social 
consciousness are those having to do with the regulation of 
society and those relating to education. These two depart- 
ments of social activity should be considered in their broadest 
conceptions. 

To illustrate the processes of social consciousness, it may be 
well to refer to the growth of the boy. When he partakes of 
food, he has no idea of doing it for the purpose of growing into 
manhood; he does so because he is hungry. When he engages 
in play he does so to satisfy a desire for amusement rather than 
any desire to strengthen his body or his faculties. But a time 
may come when he will realize that he has a body to control 
and a mind to develop; and he will then try to force his life 
in a certain direction, for a specific purpose. He may desire 
knowledge in order to change the character of his mind; and 
finding that his habits are undesirable, he forces upon himself 
new ones. Thus by the aid of teachers, and by contact with 
the social world, he reconstructs his own life by the conscious 
efforts of his will. In the same way, society begins by per- 
forming certain acts in common, such as visiting retribution 
upon the criminal, stoning the adultress, or by means of initia- 
tion ceremonies teaching to the young certain traditions of 
the group; but these acts are not performed with the desired 
end of building a society, changing a society, or even modifying 
its action. A time comes, however, when society discovers 
itself and its conditions, its defects and its power to overcome 
them. And it is then that there comes the conscious effort 
for the reconstruction of social life or the modification of that 
which already exists; for society does not attempt to tear 
down and build anew, but to modify and improve that which 
already exists. This tendency to move slowly may be observed 
in the public judgments of society concerning right and wrong, 


THE SOCIAL MIND 333 


social acts, the laws which are formed to force society through 
certain channels, and the propaganda of doctrines by certain 
sects of reformers. We find, therefore, that the movements conse- 
quent upon social consciousness are slower than those dependent 
upon individual consciousness, because the various parts of 
society are not so closely articulated and codrdinated as are the 
parts of the individual. Hence it is necessary to develop social 
consciousness by agitation, education, and methods of rapid 
communication — in short, by organization of the group towards 
a conscious end. And if this consciousness is rather uncertain 
at first, it gradually becomes surer and more exact. 

But since social direction cannot be given to all of the com- 
plex details of life, many of these are, through reflex action, 
left to the more economical operations of social automatism. 
That is, social life becomes automatic and does not need direc- 
tion from the combined will of members of society. The so- 
cialists maintain, it is true, that this automatic action is a defect 
and that social organizations could be so perfected as to carry 
out minute details of the economic and social life — a system 
which would leave comparatively little for the individual to 
do of his own free will. And after all, it is to be doubted whether 
there would be any improvement of the present system of 
economic life, were the government to order the number of 
bushels of corn, the amount of live stock, or the amount of 
wheat that could be raised in a given year, and were it to appoint 
certain groups of people to attend to the various crops. It 
is doubtful whether the government could, as an agent of the 
people, make the market any more exact or economical, by a 
formal attempt to regulate products and prices, than it is made 
under the voluntary activity of individuals who seek to obtain 
the largest return for the least sacrifice. Without any attempt 
to regulate them, therefore, society turns over the larger num- 
ber‘of details to the unconscious coéperation of the individuals 
of a community. Systematically and consciously, however, 
the social mind occupies itself with the larger problems of the 
organization of society and devotes its energies to changing 
the trend of social movements — movements, for example, 
toward the economic and social emancipation of women, the 
regulation of the liquor traffic, the control of the trusts, the 
elimination of vice, and, finally, the movements toward a better 


334 OUTLINES OF SOCIOLOGY 


understanding of the problems of immigration and eugenics, 
in order that we may control the quality of our population. 

Steps in the Formation of the Social Mind.'— The process 
by which the social mind is formed, or “ made up,’ may now 
be analyzed more closely. 

(a) Stimulation and Response. — The first step in the pro- 
cess is stimulation, of some sort, and response thereto by the 
individuals cbmposing the group. Ever acting upon individuals 
and producing social as well as individual activity, are stimuli 
from the physical world about, such as cold and heat, seasons 
and climate, day and night. Added to these are the stimuli 
provided by the presence and activities of other individuals, 
both those of the same group and those of other groups.  Fi- 
nally, there is the stimulation to mental and physical activity 
which is provided by the thoughts, ideals, and feelings of 
others. 

(b) Likenesses and Differences Appear as a Result of Stimula- 
tion. — All these stimuli excite some kind of response on the 
part of the stimulated individuals, some of whom will act 
alike, others not. While, therefore, by means of a similar 
response, there is formed a group of individuals who naturally 
act, feel, and think alike, there are, at the same time, some others 
who make a different response to the same stimulus. Some- 
times all of these, though acting differently from the first group, 
form a second group, which, within itself, acts, feels, and thinks 
alike. Then there are, of course, still others who, in response to 
the given stimulus, will vary from both the groups described. 
And it is this difference in the response which produces in society 
variation in the activities, feelings, and thoughts which make 
up the social mind. ‘Thus types of mind and types of character 
are formed; and people separate or combine according to these 
differences or resemblances. 

(c) Mutual Consciousness of Likeness and Difference. — The 
social mind is not formed until the interrelations of the 
people in the group develop to the point where all become 
mutually conscious of the fact that some resemble others and 
some do not.? This consciousness of likeness and unlikeness 
may not be shared to the same degree by all individuals in the 


1 Giddings, Descriptive and Historical Sociology, pp. 124-185. 
2 Cf. Davis, Psychological Interpretations of Society, pp. 68, 69. 


THE SOCIAL MIND 335 


group — it probably never is. Throughout the group, never- 
theless, there is a consciousness — in this individual clear and 
certain, and in that dimly perceived — that certain ones in 
the group act, feel, and think alike, while certain others do not. 

This process in epitome may be actually observed to-day 
when boys come together who have not hitherto known each 
other. At first there is reserve and caution; each is closely 
observing the others. Then each makes up his mind provi- 
sionally that he likes certain of the group and that he dislikes 
others. The boy who is first to come to such a conclusion 
approaches another boy, perhaps, and proposes a game. If the 
other agrees to the proposal, stratification of the group begins. 
In the process of play, the stratification proceeds even further, 
perhaps. Concurrently, however, there goes on a further 
sifting. New discoveries of likeness and difference are made, 
and new alignments occur, as new angles of personality are 
observed, and the primary antipathies are perhaps softened. 
A process of socialization, of growing likeness, sets in. More 
and more, through the give-and-take of social intercourse, 
similarities are discovered, great enough to warrant codpera- 
tion; and such adjustments are made that finally the members 
of the group can perhaps play together without a quarrel. 
The boys have not only discovered and developed like tastes, 
feelings, ideals, and ambitions, but they have become conscious 
of the fact that they are alike. They end, perhaps, by report- 
ing to their parents that they like the other boys. Again, there 
is a similar process in the development of the social mind when- 
ever people from many different places gather together in a 
new country and begin to associate with one another. 

(d) A Common Purpose Develops.— Once the group has 
become conscious of likenesses and differences, — the former 
greater than the latter, — once common sentiments, feelings, 
and thoughts are consciously held and enjoyed by members of 
the group, the dynamic condition of the development of the 
social mind has been reached. It is ‘‘made up” and ready 
for action. Common feelings and sentiments consciously 
held inevitably lead to common purposes directed toward 
certain ends. Public opinion has been formed; public feeling 
has been aroused; and now the public will can express itself. 

We have not analyzed the possible ways in which the “ mak- 


336 OUTLINES OF SOCIOLOGY 
ing up” of the social mind may be brought about. There is 
space only to suggest that it may occur as a result of an appeal 
to the intelligence by means of deliberate debate, covering a 
long period of time; or it may be precipitated suddenly by some 
event which stirs the common feelings, such as the blowing up 
of the Maine in Havana harbor, or the shooting of the Austrian 
crown prince. In the one case you have the expression of public 
opinion, in the other of public feeling. 

The Readjustment of Society. — Just as the individual adapts 
himself to the conditions of nature and his social surroundings, 
so the social mind is ever alert to readjust society and adapt 
it to the requirements of nature and the will of man. Thus 
while the social organization represents a close interdependence 
and a continuity of parts, still there is a constant readjusting 
of these parts to each other and of the whole to the natural 
environment. This adaptation is the chief function of the 
social mind. It finds expression in the common feeling, gen- 
eral will, public opinion, and moral sense of the people, as well 
as in formulated law and rules of action. 

Formal Expressions of the Social Mind. — Everywhere we 
find evidences of this action of the social mind, whether we con- 
sider the whole national life or its important parts. There 
are public policies that become so well established that they are 
stronger in their influences than they would be if they were 
formulated in public law, with penalties attached. There 
are policies of political parties which are expressions of the 
common thought and will of those parties. ‘There are creeds 
of church organizations, there are types and ideals of society 
in general, which have been built up by means of a common 
expression of the social mind. The ideal of ‘‘ liberty, equality, 
and fraternity,” the ideal of ‘ justice,” and the ideal of “‘ eco- 
nomic independence,” are all products of the social mind, having 
the force of law without its sanctions. The estimate of social 
values and their arrangement in relative degrees of desirability 
are expressions of the social mind; they are the combined prod- 
uct of the community. And the notion of a common Bible, a 
common religion, or a common country gives rise to the universal 
sentiments or actions of individual minds. Thus does the 
social mind, through action and reaction, demonstrate its su- 
periority to the individual. 


THE SOCIAL MIND 337 


REFERENCES 


Cootey, C. H. Social Organization, Chaps. I and II. 

Davis, M. M., Jr. Psychological Interpretations, Chap. V. 

Der GREEF, GUILLAUME. Introduction a la Sociologie, Chap. XIII. 

DURKHEIM, Emite. Les regles de la methode sociologique, pp. 6-23. 

Extwoop, C. A. Sociology in its Psychological Aspects, Chap. XV. 

FAmRBANKS, ArtHuR. Introduction to Sociology, pp. 76-91. 

Grwpincs, F. H. Principles of Sociology, pp. 132-152. 

LE Bon, Gustave. The Crowd. 

SMALL and VINCENT. Introduction to the Study of Society, pp. 215-236, 
305-331. 

TARDE, GABRIEL. La logique sociale, pp. 92, 96, 101, 201-204. 

Warp, Lester F. Dynamic Sociology, pp. 400-469, 305-331; Psychic 
Factors of Civilization, pp. 291-312; Pure Soctology, pp. 150-159. 


QUESTIONS AND EXERCISES 


1. Make a table of the differences between the individual mind and the 
social mind. Make one of the similarities. 

2. Explain what Ellwood means when he says that ‘‘The mental life of 
groups is unified only functionally.” See Ellwood, Sociology in its Psycho- 
logical Aspects, p. 330. 

3. Describe the steps by which the United States made up its mind to 
declare war on Spain; to build the Panama Canal; to revise the tariff. 

4. Is the process by which we secure enough food to supply the needs of 
one hundred millions of people in this country the result of social conscious- 
ness? State your reasons. 

5. Is the process by which we keep up our population a socially conscious 
one? 

6. Is the process by which we defend our country from possible invasion, 
by building forts and battleships, and by training an army, a sign of social 
consciousness ? 

7. Analyze the steps by which a state “‘makes up” its mind to regulate 
railroad rates. 

8. Observe a group of college students recently come together in a hall 
or rooming house, and analyze the steps in the development of a social mind 
among them. 


CHAPTER V 


PSYCHICAL ACTIVITIES 


Psychic Forces. — In the last two chapters we have empha- 
sized the psychological aspects of social life. Since mind, in 
so far as it affects his social relations, is man’s most important 
possession, the psychical relations are by far the most constant 
of all the factors in the organization and development of human 
society. In codperation, codrdination, or organized effort of 
any kind, it is the psychological relationships that hold men 
together. It is, therefore, easy to recognize that social psychol- 
ogy is an important part of general sociology. Now we have 
seen that the social mind has a positive influence in directing 
the members of the social body; but the social mind is really 
something more than the sum of the combined minds of the 
individuals in the group. It is the codrdination of the feelings, 
thoughts, and purposes of all the individuals associated together 
— either intensified by the consciousness of the agreement of 
many minds or subdued as a result of the recognition of some 
disagreement among them. Thus while, as has been before 
stated, there is no distinct ego entirely disconnected from the 
individual ego, this restraining or inspiring influence of the social 
mind operates forcefully upon the individual. The social 
mind, therefore, acting as an independent self-constituted 
power, and regarding not the single individual, but the commu- 
nity as a whole, is a force whose effects we can observe and de- 
scribe. And the psychical activities of society are an expression 
of this social force. 

Feeling. — The socio-psychic activities manifest themselves 
through much the same channels as do the activities of the 
individual mind. We may call them the social feelings, the 
social thoughts, and the social will. 

The emotional element expresses itself in a variety of ways. 


1 Davis, Psychological Interpretations of Society, pp. 75-79. 
338 


PSYCHICAL ACTIVITIES 339 


In the feelings of a community concerning its own life, the emo- 
tional element is strong, but it is in the relations of one society - 
to another that social emotion is most clearly manifested; for, 
in its contact with other groups, a community has a double 
reaction. Baldwin has pointed out, from the psychological, 
and Ross and Tarde from the ethical and social, point of view, 
the important function of ‘ opposition’ or reaction against 
the idea of another or that of a group of strangers.! 

By forcing definition and stimulating an interest in points 
of contrast, such opposition clears thought. Then, too, a 
reaction of this sort greatly stimulates the feelings ; for, strangely 
enough, hate of others generates affection for one’s own fellows 
and gives rise to that racial feeling which is such a persistent 
force in the social affairs of men. Asa matter of fact, the chief 
cause of conflicts between two peoples is a difference in feeling 
about matters in which both are interested, but from different 
points of view. Thus contact always stimulates emotion, but 
what emotion is stirred — whether it be that of sympathy and 
fellowship or that of hate — depends upon likeness or unlike- 
ness, identity, or difference of interests. Yet not only is it 
true that opposition clears the thought and stimulates the feel- 
ings of two groups; the very feeling of one group toward another 
has great influence on this second group. And the reaction 
from the feelings of different groups or tribes brings about a 
reciprocal relationship which modifies the conduct of both. 

Since, therefore, feeling is the driving force among the psy- 
chical elements affecting social life, we must not be surprised 
to find that social activities are more often affected by the feel- 
ings than by careful deliberation. Moreover, as we shall see, 
the will is more closely allied to the feelings than to the intellect. 
And, finally, the very fact that social activity is social provides 
the circumstances in which feeling may dominate over reason. 
Now it is a well-known fact that the action of groups of people 
— unless they are carefully organized to prevent mob-action — 
is less moral, less rational, than the actions of individuals who 
are not carried along by a crowd. In that social activity, 
which is spontaneous or instinctive, therefore, the element of 


1 Baldwin, Social and Ethical Interpretations, sth ed., pp. 236-244. Ross, Social 
Control, p. 72. Cf. Baldwin, Dictionary of Philosophy and Psychology, ‘‘ Social 
Opposition.” 


340 OUTLINES OF SOCIOLOGY 


feeling is quite certain to predominate. Thus it is that the 
emotional element prevails in their united action, when people 
are brought together in a large, heterogeneous mass, since their 
united action depends more upon feeling than upon reason or 
judgment. The crowd is, to all purposes, a young, undeveloped 
society, in which, as in the young, undeveloped individual, 
the emotional element prevails — ruled by an impulse as instinc- 
tively fierce and strong as the instinct of a savage beast. But 
the moment a crowd begins to respond to reason it is ready 
to disperse and go about its business if it does not organize 
itself into a more or less permanent group ruled by deliberate 
judgment. All mobs, therefore, are dangerous elements in a 
community ; and in spite of the fact that they sometimes act 
with precision and rapidly moving justice, they should be re- 
pressed because they do not represent a high order of social 
purpose and are very apt to be characterized by antisocial 
acts. 

The mob has, it is true, a keen sense of justice and the courage 
to execute it; the rapidity with which it passes judgment on 
an outrage committed against individual or society proves its 
possession of these qualities. The evil of mob action consists 
in the method of procedure which the mob employs. If only, 
along with its desire to administer justice, it could substitute 
self-restraint for violence and patience for impulse, it would 
accord to every offending individual the right to an impartial 
trial before the law. Thus the tremendous social importance 
of feeling as a dynamic force can be judged by its work in a 
mob; but this mighty social impulse must be directed for 
the welfare of society, for, unrestrained by reason and calm 
judgment, it is an agency of destruction rather than of construc- 
tive social activity. 

Feeling, however, as Ward has so well demonstrated, is essen- 
tial to normal social action ;1 it is the great motive power which 
sends society forward toward a given end. Without feeling, 
there could be, in truth, no positive work for social well-being. 
And if it is sympathy for one another that is the chief contributor 
to the betterment of a community, hatred of others has been 
only less powerful in producing social activity and developing 
social codperation and organization. Was it not, for example, 

1 Ward, Pure Sociology, Chaps. VI, VII. 


PSYCHICAL ACTIVITIES 341 


hatred of her oppressors that made a unity out of the few gath- 
ered remnants of exiled Israel? It is this ‘‘ ethical dualism,” 
as Professor Ross styles it, which, striving at the same time to 
promote sympathy for the members of a group and hatred for 
its enemy, has had so much to do with the development of social 
consciousness and the creation of social sentiment. Thus, 
while we honor reason, knowledge, and judgment and realize 
that no well-ordered society can exist without the proper exer- 
cise of each, still we must not ignore that emotional side of 
life which gives us both good and bad impulses. Without 
these impulses, reason and judgment would have little cause 
to act. Without feeling, there is not — there never has been 
—any social unity. 

In its relation to social activity, social feeling manifests 
itself in two ways; through certain beliefs and through tradi- 
tion. Beliefs have an emotional foundation. Let us first 
take up the consideration of individual beliefs. A boy hears 
other boys telling about their exploits in swimming or fighting 
— desirable achievements to the listening boy. Soon feeling 
within himself untried capabilities, the boy ventures to believe 
that he, too, can do these desirable things, and acting upon 
the courage engendered by this belief, he tries. Sometimes 
he succeeds. Then is his desire achieved; his belief justified. 
And his consequent satisfaction generates in him such an emo- 
tional state as will serve to create in him, when the occasion 
arrives, the belief that he can do other desirable things. What 
is true of a boy is true of aman. Because of experiences which 
began in early boyhood, he has believed in himself; and acting 
upon what he has believed, he has often succeeded. And as a 
result of action which accomplishes what he desires and what 
he believes himself capable of doing, he experiences a fine emo- 
tion. Nor does he lose confidence in himself because, at times, 
he did not succeed in accomplishing what he believed possible 
to himself, for these occasions are soon pushed beyond the hori- 
zon of memory. 

In much the same way, social beliefs, such as a belief in the 
‘manifest destiny ” of a people, or the coming greatness of the 
“fatherland,” are developed by groups of men. ‘These beliefs 
grow by precept upon precept, by shibboleths, and by the other 
vague symbols of deep emotion; they grow until they sweep a 


342 OUTLINES OF SOCIOLOGY 


whole nation or a whole race, into the range of their profound 
emotional appeals. They call to their aid feelings based on 
reverence for the past or aroused by glorious hopes for the 
future. They appeal to emotions belonging to the historic 
activities of the past; they lure men to war by suggesting glory, 
plunder, perhaps undying fame. Finally, it is social emotions, 
stirred to reality in some such ways, that develop into those 
impelling forces which we call the “spirit” of a country, 
forces which so often enable a tyrant or a puppet king to hood- 
wink the common people and anesthetize them with the spe- 
cious argument of those who must get others to fight their battles 
for them: ‘ Dulce et decorum est pro patria mort.’ And how 
often is the name of God upon the lips of the militarist! It is 
no accident, as Giddings has pointed out, that an age of mili- 
tarism is ever an age of strong beliefs. 

Closely allied with belief, as a means whereby emotion is 
intensified in its expression, is tradition and reverence for 
authority. Because of the necessity for social order, tradition 
and reverence have a secure foundation in the emotions. Tradi- 
tion has all the glamour of the illusively distant past, in which, 
somewhere, the golden age lies buried. And only as we return 
to something approaching the ideals of the past, so we say, 
shall we ever have a civilization worth while. The norms of 
conduct, of social relations, were established in that long ago 
by wise men, who are never to return to this earth. In their 
words lies authority; and it is tradition that preserves those 
words for us. ‘‘ The greatness that once was Rome” lays 
its dead hand upon the living present and offers certain guid- 
ance; and in sharp contrast to the vices of the leaders of to-day, 
are the vague virtues of the dead. But coupled with man’s 
reverence for the mysterious is his natural wish for the cer- 
tainty which only dogmatic assertion can supply. In his 
restless struggle with new forces and new situations he finds 
great release from the strain of attention, in a return to the 
attitude of submission to authority. What emotions, then, 
do tradition and authority call forth? They arouse awe for 
the authoritative and aged; they give peace to the struggling 
and wearied spirit, for, with the release from doubt, most power- 
ful inhibitor of action, comes the certainty of faith and the 
emotions which action, in the face of uncertainty, always 


PSYCHICAL ACTIVITIES 343 


brings. And what more than these feelings of confident cer- 
tainty can be desired? Yes, there is something more — the 
certainty of critically tested truth, the joy of victory through 
struggle. But these only the heroic soul can know. 

The reverence for authority is, in fact, one of the prime in- 
fluences in the development of concerted social action. A 
member of a community who knows a given subject and has a 
reputation for authority can influence the whole conimunity 
by the expression of his judgment. But the influence of author- 
ity is not confined to an individual; it sometimes exerts its 
influence from certain parts of a community. Thus, in the 
states of the Federal Union, the opinion of people from certain 
regions in regard to the choice of a President, the decision of 
a court, or the passing of a law, would have much greater weight 
than that of others. While the way in which tradition, author- 
ity, and custom affect social ideals and institutions will be 
treated in the chapter on social control, it should be observed 
at this point that this trinity of influences are products of man’s 
mind struggling with the problem of how to secure psychical 
and social adjustments in a community composed of ‘“‘ men 
of many minds.” The reverence for the traditional and the 
customary, to be found so universally in early society, is, as 
Bagehot has remarked, “ the cement of society”? which holds 
it together. Even science, with its well-earned reputation, to 
give the exact truth, has a strong influence on the community ; 
speaks for it with the authority of knowledge. 

Knowledge. — Knowledge becomes the directing power of 
the mind. If feeling is the dynamic social agent — the social 
steam — knowledge is the great throttle which regulates the 
flow of this energizing power. The contemplation of facts 
will have a tendency to calm impulsive social action, provided 
all the varied conditions are brought into view. Contemplation 
has this tranquilizing effect because, by allowing all sides of a 
question to be considered, by calmly facing consequences, it 
inhibits activity, the natural expression of emotion; and feeling 
cools quickly, once its outflow in activity has been interrupted. 
Important as feeling is, therefore, it is sometimes a dangerous 
social agent when unchecked; knowledge and calm delibera- 


1 Physics and Politics, International Scientific Series, New York, 1898, pp. 184, 
185. 


344 _ OUTLINES OF SOCIOLOGY 


tion are, indeed, essential to the concerted action of the various 
parts of society. 

Social knowledge is dependent upon communication for its 
dissemination throughout the social group. If the community 
is so sparsely settled as to render individuals, or even small 
groups, isolated in their life, there can be no concerted social 
activity of the whole group. Indeed, many of the difficulties 
of socialization are due simply to a lack of understanding; we 
cannot, therefore, estimate the power of universal knowledge 
in the development of common thought. The influence of the 
telegraph has often been commented upon. That a message 
can now be flashed around the world in nine and one half 
minutes, giving the happenings of the Orient to the Occident 
almost as soon as they occur, and causing people to think the 
same thoughts at the same time, is of inestimable value in making 
social knowledge universal. Not less remarkable is the influ- 
ence of the telephone, which spreads knowledge of all kinds so 
thoroughly that anything which goes on in a community may 
quickly be known by every one. Through the influence of these 
great inventions, together with the postal system and wireless 
telegraphy, a community is receiving the same information at 
the same hour; and to a large extent each individual is forming 
the same judgment about any important movement. More- 
over, in such methods of communication as the telegraph, 
telephone, and newspaper, the stimulation of personal contact — 
especially the mass stimulation of the crowd — is lacking. 
Each member of a community receives the information and can 
calmly consider it. These means of communication, then, 
give an opportunity for the rapid and exact formation of social 
judgments and manifestation of the social will. 

Before the time of modern inventions, however, when new 
and sparsely settled communities had little or no communica- 
tion with each other, things were different indeed. It took 
months, sometimes even years, to communicate with the 
distant parts of a community. And when such conditions pre- 
vailed, there could be no common social knowledge.! But 
since the introduction of the rural free delivery system and the 


1 For an illustration of the social effects of this isolation upon a religious denomi- 
nation see Gillin, The Dunkers — A Sociological Interpretation, New York, 1906, pp. 
159, 160, 164-166. 


PSYCHICAL ACTIVITIES 345 


telephone the farming communities of the West are responding 
to a new life. These new methods of communication increase 
the size of the social group which may now share the same 
opinions and feelings — that is, they enlarge the social mind — 
and make the common sentiments more rational than they 
could otherwise have been. Much still remains to be done to 
perfect the machinery whereby the North and the South, the 
East and the West, shall have the same mind; yet that possi- 
bility is much nearer to-day than ever before. And increased 
travel, made possible by cheap railroad fares and the automobile 
and motor cycle, and the increase in student migrations from 
one section of the country to another, will gradually supply 
the personal contact which the newspaper cannot supply. 

The effect of this widespread knowledge, in the interaction 
and reaction of the individuals of a social group, is very great. 
Let the market report that wheat has advanced five cents a 
bushel, and many a farmer will start for the market to dispose 
of his surplus grain. Acting independently of others, the 
individual may forget that others are possibly doing what he 
is; but if, perchance, each farmer should stop to think that 
others may be influenced by the same idea, he would remember 
that the sudden rushing to market of so much grain would 
cause. the price to fall. Again, if a farmer acquires a new 
quality of seed, a new method of cultivating the soil, or a new 
machine, his neighbor will desire to have the same knowledge 
and the same advantage; and what he acquires will soon be 
desired by yet another. In this way does knowledge, passing 
from one to another, influence the whole group. For its dis- 
semination broadens the consciousness of kind; and the reali- 
zation that all possess the same knowledge stimulates not only 
individual action, but also the action of the group. Widespread 
knowledge of a thing is, therefore, most important in the es- 
tablishment of a social judgment, the starting point of rational 
social action. | 

Social Will. — Social will arises primarily out of social feel- 
ing. It is an expression of choice, combined with persistent 
desire to accomplish a given object. If ‘“ the will is the active 
expression of the soul’s meaning,” the social will is an assertion 
of the determination of society to perform certain actions, which 
it believes in. And wherever there is a general determination — 


346 OUTLINES OF SOCIOLOGY 


instinctive, dimly conscious, or clearly conscious — to promote 
the interests of society at large, to avoid evil influences, and 
to adopt the forms of progress necessary to advance the social 
life, we have an expression of the social will. In the primal move- 
ments of society, will asserted itself as a result of a blind im- 
pulse; but in modern society it is guided by knowledge, and 
finds expression in a thousand ways through public law. Some- 
times, even now, however, the social will, incited to action by 
mob stimulation, results in mob action — rushing to its object 
in a blind fury, and as swiftly dissolving when the fury is past. 
But science has made it more and more possible to the social 
will to turn the whole force of society toward the accomplish- 
ment of a great social end, for the scientific spirit has introduced 
patient search for facts before a decision is reached, diligent 
and careful consideration of these facts, and deliberate purpose 
formed only upon the findings. Thus the whole rational mental 
process of each individual has a chance to act. The whole 
tendency of civilization is, in fact, to impose upon action such 
checks as will make for deliberation, for the curbing of unre- 
strained feeling by careful thought. To take one kind of ex- 
ample, assemblies have devised safeguards against the results 
of mob psychology like the parliamentary devices of motions 
to table, to adjourn, to refer matters to a committee, and to 
require several readings of a bill—and on different days — 
before its final passage. The sole purpose of these various 
devices is to secure deliberation, in order that the social will, 
instead of being stimulated by uncontrolled feeling, may be 
directed by deliberate thought and calm judgment. 

The Power of Psychical Forces. — We find, then, by close 
observation of society as it exists to-day, that the psychical 
forces are the essential bonds of union and those to which we 
must look for all of our higher social culture. Thus the con- 
servation of these psychic forces and their proper direction are 
of the utmost importance. Professors Small and Vincent have 
pointed out that at a given moment in any community, psychical 
force is a fixed quantity.!. That is, if we take a statical view of 
the relationships of society in all of its varied parts, we observe 
that there is only a certain amount of power being exerted; 
and if this energy is directed at one point, it will be with- 

1 Small and Vincent, An Introduction to the Study of Society, p. 332. 


PSYCHICAL ACTIVITIES 347 


drawn from another. If social attention is concentrated on 
war, commerce and culture must be neglected; if it is 
centered on money getting, the spiritual interests must suf- 
fer. The physicist’s principle of the conservation of energy 
and the transmutation of power can therefore be applied to 
the psychical forces of society. These writers further main- 
tain that psychical energy cannot long be concentrated on a 
single object. As this theory has been demonstrated to be 
true of the individual mind, it is probably true of the social 
mind. Yesterday tuberculosis, to-day the vice problem, and 
to-morrow infant mortality absorbs the popular attention. 
At any rate, in the history of social life we find a constant suc- 
cession of centralization and decentralization of this social 
energy. If it flows steadily in one direction for a given time, 
it is not long before the ebb tide sets in; and while it is thus 
centered in one point temporarily, it is withdrawn from other 
points. There is a possibility, too, that the moral energy 
of man is subjected to these same laws of constant quantity 
and of centralization. It would be well, therefore, if reformers 
and legislators would devise more methods to cure a trouble 
while interest is aroused. If the movement can be institution- 
alized with a large enough constituency to support it, after 
the popular enthusiasm wanes, the social emotion aroused will 
not be in vain. 


REFERENCES 


BALDWIN, J. Marx. Social and Ethical Interpretations in Mental Develop- 
ment, 5th ed., pp. 194-302. 

Grppincs, F. H. Principles of Sociology, pp. 376-399. 

LE Bon, Gustave. The Crowd. 

SMALL and VINCENT. Introduction to the Study of Society, pp. 331-365. 

SPENCER, HERBERT. Principles of Sociology, Vol. I, pp. 483-485, 507-536. 

Warp, LestER F. Dynamic Sociology, Vol. II, pp. 540-633; Pure Soci- 


ology, pp. 119-144. 


QUESTIONS AND EXERCISES 


1. Make a list of the social feelings which operate to produce social action 
in your community. Which one, if any, is predominant? 

2. Name three instances in the history of the United States of social ac- 
tion in each of which feeling, rather than thoughtful consideration, led to 
the action. 


348 OUTLINES OF SOCIOLOGY 


3. Cite four cases of social action by a nation in which reason predomi- 
nated. 

4. Show, by citing and analyzing, an instance in which belief stirred strong 
emotions and led to social action. 

5. What type of leader appears when the mental condition of a people is 
such that it is moved by feeling rather than by reason? 

6. Cite an instance showing how tradition or reverence for authority 
stirred deep feelings and incited social action. 

7. What effect upon the quality of the social mind will the coming of 
large numbers of immigrants have upon a country? That is, will it tend 
to be moved more by feelings than by reason, or vice versa? 

8. What bearing would the development of social centers used as places 
for the discussion of public questions, probably have upon the character of 
the social mind and upon social action? 


CHAPTER VI 
SOCIAL CONTROL! 


The Meaning of Social Control. — The orderly movement 
of society could not be brought about by accident or maintained 
without regulative forces; it is not an automatic machine which 
runs without directive agencies, or at the behest of the blind 
forces of a physical environment. Nor does it develop and 
function merely by reason of the unconscious social forces at 
work in its constituent members, each individual more or less 
blind to the social interests of the group and intent only upon 
his own selfish interests. In the chapter on Social Organization 
there were enumerated different constituent parts of society 
called, after Spencer, the regulating organs. In his regulating 
system Spencer points out the necessity of this great social 
function of control. And in Ross’s admirable book on Social 
Control we find a sea and complete presentation of the 
subject. 

The blind social forces dos of course, play a certain part in 
the control of society. Ward has designated the process by 
the happy term “ synergy,” or the working together of uncon- 
scious individual forces towards a common end.” But, although 
social control is sometimes automatic and unconscious, society 
is moved in part by conscious purpose; indeed, a directive 
agency plays an increasingly prominent part in society as social 
evolution proceeds. Thus while most of the elements of social 
control are to be found in the reactions of individual life, still 
we find that there must be a larger agency representing the 
social mass — that is, a social mind to give to society an orderly 
arrangement. Even if every individual loved his neighbor as 
himself and observed conscientiously the Golden Rule, there 

1 Professor Ross has made this field peculiarly his own. His book, Soctal Con- 
trol, is the best contribution to the subject. For much of what is best in this chap- 


ter we are indebted to his brilliant chapters. 
2 Ward, Pure Sociology, pp. 171-184. 


349 


350 OUTLINES OF SOCIOLOGY 


would still be necessity for a central controlling force to keep 
people in order; for each individual, moving, as he does, in a 
direction of his own, and seeking to satisfy his own particular 
wants, would constantly find himself in opposition to his fellows. 
If, for example, two well-intentioned people should desire to 
occupy the same land at the same time, the right of the matter 
might be a difficult question for individuals to decide; but the 
public mind, as embodied in the law and the courts, is prepared 
to settle the question. Take, for a moment, the figure of a 
procession.! Some one must tell individuals how and when to 
enter the procession, how to keep step with one another; some 
one must give them place, direction, and time of movement. 

In its beginnings, at least, social control is largely negative ; 
the people are taught that certain things are tabooed. And 
to the very last, social control remains — to a greater or less 
degree — a restraint. When population is widely scattered, as 
it was, for instance, in the pioneer settlements of the United 
States, the theory of public social regulation is that the best 
government is that in which there is the least government. 
With a growing population, however, the consequent multi- 
plication of contacts, and the mingling of different nationalities 
and races, the questions requiring regulation increase; and, in 
the absence of common traditions, a common religion, the ties 
of kinship, and similar unofficial and spontaneous regulative 
agencies, such regulation must perforce be more largely public 
and official. : 

In social control there are two elements. One belongs to 
the unconscious, disinterested activities of society; the other 
arises directly out of man’s conscious desire for a controlling 
force. The church, for example, was instituted rather for 
culture than for control; but it became incidentally — and 
sometimes with conscious intent — a powerful agent of control. 
On the other hand, the king, the standing army, the police 
force, and in fact, the entire political government, are instituted 
for the purpose of control. 

The Basis of Social Order. — The basis of social order is 
found in individual desires and actions and the reactions result- 
ing therefrom. We have discussed elsewhere the power of 
sympathy; this power, by making an individual recognize the 

1 Ross, Social Control, p. 1. 


SOCIAL CONTROL 351 


position of others, so modifies his actions toward his fellows 
that he hesitates to take a position which is positively detri- 
mental to others. The desire for sociability is another control- 
ling force; only non-social creatures can exist without some 
degree of social order. Carnivorous animals that hunt alone 
and desire to be alone have no need, of course, of a social order ; 
but should they desire sociability and prepare to perpetuate 
it, they would have to change their method of life. So, too, 
in primitive human groups, sociability cannot exist without 
at least the beginning of social order. But in civilized society, 
while sociability plays, on the whole, a comparatively unim- 
portant part, it does, in the minor associations of life, exert 
a wholesome restraint upon man’s combative nature. The 
boss and his gang, the social club, the church, the playground, 
and the neighborhood, all testify to its power, even yet.! 

The Sense of Justice.— From the individualistic stand- 
point, perhaps, one of the strongest influences for social con- 
trol is that exerted by a sense of justice. Originating as it 
does in the sense of sympathy, it later develops positive char- 
acteristics of its own. And were there no other law-inducing 
influences, the sense of justice would be sufficient to establish 
some sort of social order. Justice is, in fact, the fundamental 
principle in all good government and, for that matter, in all 
phases of normal social life. Even in the social give-and-take 
of the child, this sense of fair play develops naturally as the 
child begins to form a conception of self.2 To a very limited 
degree a sense of justice is to be found among the lowest tribes ; 
but in the highly civilized nation, it is a full expression of the 
moral sense combined with the sense of power. What was 
an instinct in early childhood becomes later a strong control- 
ling force. That is, a sense of justice exerts this influence 
when the members of a group are equals; but where there 
arise social classes, either by reason of conquest or exploitation, 
it fails. It is just these class differences, however, which, in 
the regulation of the class relationships, give rise to positive 
law, the formal expression of social control.4 Modern democ- 

1 [bid., Chap. III. 

2 For a different view see ibid., p. 34. 

3 Baldwin, Ethical and Social Interpretations, 1913, Pp. 15-39. 


4 See Ross, Social Control, Chap. IV. This is a slight expansion of Ross’s exposi- 
tion with emphasis upon the historic development. 


352 OUTLINES OF SOCIOLOGY 


racies, it is true, have taught a great deal about equality and 
fraternity ; but when one searches for the basis of their prac- 
tical government, one finds — especially where there are di- 
verse racial characteristics among the governed — that justice 
founded on positive regulation is the dominant controlling 
influence. Fraternity and equality, as sentiments in the 
national life, may be of some service in developing friendly 
feeling; but justice is the only formal and well-established 
principle of social action. And just in proportion as modern 
governments emphasize the development and maintenance of 
justice among all members of the nation, will they settle those 
difficulties which arise from the attempt to socialize different 
races in the same community. 

The Resentment of Injustice. — The resentment of injustice, 
or the individual reaction, is also essential to the development 
of social order. Even after the law of natural justice expressed 
in ‘an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth ” is softened by 
the sentiments of civil justice, the right is still maintained to 
resent injustice to any degree and in any manner whatever. 
It is, indeed, that very resentment against injustice which has 
helped to make so many of our laws. Man encroaches, for 
example, upon the rights of his fellows; and knowing that we 
should resent such an injustice toward ourselves, we resent it 
for others because of our sympathy for them. If there were no 
resentment, there would be no strife; and without strife, the 
weak would perish because society took no notice of them.? 

Thus, through the interplay of the activities of separate 
individuals, there is an opportunity to work out a natural order 
of society. And were no other agency to appear than the simple 
methods arising out of the normal activities of human society, 
there would still be established a social life with a more or less 
orderly arrangement.” 

Control through Belief.— The agencies of social control 
now dominant are a development. Some of them did not 
exist among men’s first devices to regulate their relations to 
one another. Law and even public opinion developed late. 
Ceremony, custom, and superstitious beliefs were the first 
agencies working toward social control. 

The belief in supernatural sanctions to conduct arose early. 

1 Ross, Social Control, Chap. V, 2 Tbid., Chap. VI. 


SOCIAL CONTROL 353 


Legal and social sanctions are paralyzed sometimes by the 
superior power of the offender; they are expensive and, after 
all, only reach the outward deed; and finally they do not con- 
trol the motives of the heart.!. But the chief reason, perhaps, 
for the development of supernatural sanctions is that, as has 
been indicated in a previous chapter,? when man reached the 
animistic stage of culture, religious practices became funda- 
mental life activities. First the spirits inhabiting natural 
objects and later the gods or god of the tribe were interested 
in the doings, in the very life processes of the individuals of 
the group. Here was a tremendous force brought to bear 
upon the inadequately socialized impulses of men. Their 
belief in these gods, more potent, more wise than they, went to 
the very foundations of conduct and seriously modified the 
motives of primitive men. 

These sanctions, as Professor Ross has pointed out, may 
be divided into five classes. The elementary belief controlling 
conduct is that there is a supernatural being, or beings, who 
follows men’s doings, rewards the good, and punishes the bad. 
A second group of sanctions is to be found in the beliefs typified 
by the Hindu doctrine of transmigration of souls. The souls 
are reborn in this world — the bad into the bodies of animals 
or low caste men, the good into the bodies of Brahmins, Devas, 
or kings. Every motive of the Hindu is colored by the belief 
in these definite rewards for approved social conduct. A third 
kind of sanction rests upon the belief in an after life, spent, as 
the case may warrant, either in an everlasting heaven of delights 
or a perpetual hell of torture. One has only to read medieval 
theology or see medieval paintings to appreciate the strength 
of these sanctions in deterring certain classes of people from 
socially undesirable acts. A fourth type of sanction is dependent 
upon the penances exacted by ecclesiastics. The sinner’s 
punishment does not wait for another life; it begins here and 
now. He is banished from communion; he is avoided; he is 
denied confession, connubial rights, and the ordinary compan- 
ionship of associates. These are punishments which make 
amends for evil conduct and in some unexplained way purify 
the soul from sin. The fifth type appears when the person to 
be controlled is bound by tender ties with deceased relatives 

1 Jbid., pp. 126, 127. 2 Part II, Chap. XII. 
2A 


354 OUTLINES OF SOCIOLOGY 


or friends. The spirits of these loved ones look down from 
heaven and see the actions of those who remain on earth; the 
mother her erring, but beloved, boy or girl; the wife her hus- 
band; the child its parent, who is resisting the appeals of the 
church. Thus the love for the departed, combined with a 
belief that the deceased lives and knows and cares, constitutes 
a controlling force of great strength. 

Control by Social Suggestion. — But control by means of 
legal penalties, social opinion, and belief in supernatural sanc- 
tions are not the only methods by which the wills of men have 
been brought into subjection. Sanctions are quite conscious 
in their operation and depend for much of their power upon the 
fear of consequences which they are able to instill. Social 
suggestion, though none the less effective, works much less in 
the open. Somewhat resembling hypnosis, social suggestion 
operates subconsciously, for the most part, because the indi- 
vidual, while awake and conscious of his acts, does not under- 
stand clearly from what motives he is performing them. His 
response to social suggestion, therefore, is mute, but eloquent, 
testimony to the strength of his social impulses. At all times 
we are doing things, when in the company of others, which we 
should not do when alone. This social atmosphere which we 
breathe presses upon us with a force often unrecognized, but 
which really moves us almost whithersoever it listeth. 

Social suggestion varies in its force with the bodily and 
mental condition of the person upon whom it operates; one 
who is fatigued, diseased, or nervously worn out is most readily 
controlled. It varies also with the prestige and authority of 
him who offers the suggestion; it varies with the mass or vol- 
ume of suggestion, which wears down resistance by the sheer 
force of authority, or by means of the familiarity which reitera- 
tion brings; and finally it varies with the effectiveness of the 
social provisions designed to prevent the entrance of conflicting 
suggestions into the mind of the individual. 

Suggestion secures its results by a number of methods and 
devices, example being one of the important means. We ele- 
vate to a pedestal and crown with a wreath the man who dis- 
plays desirable social qualities. We build shafts to the mem- 
ory of the brave, the heroic, and the successful; we canonize 
the recluse and apotheosize the martyr. The glamour round 


SOCIAL CONTROL 355 


their deeds stirs the emotions of the young and creates in 
them certain social desires; but in the interests of social 
welfare, the vices of these same heroes, martyrs, and saints 
are forgotten. 

Faith in the unrealized potentialities of men is another 
method of social suggestion. Many are those who had courses 
of conduct suggested to them by some one who expected great 
things from them; many are those who have been spurred on 
to live up to another’s faith in them. The very secret of the 
power of the Gospel is to be found in its sublime faith in the 
universal capacity of men to achieve salvation from their weaker 
and baser selves. Prophet, apostle, and modern evangelist, 
as well as statesman, admiral, and king, well know the force of 
suggestion conveyed through an expression of faith in a man’s 
ability to do the seemingly impossible. Again, social suggestion 
operates through the force of ideals conveyed by the written 
and the spoken word. Vicious reading matter is tabooed; 
descriptions of lewd, brutal, and criminal acts are forbidden; 
seditious speech or writing is suppressed. And not only is 
literature censored so that the noble idealism of youth may 
not too soon be shattered by acquaintance with the hard facts 
of life, but even conversation is directed in the interests of 
social purity. All these precautions are based upon the ac- 
knowledged truth that Vice 


‘too often seen, familiar with its face 
We first endure, then pity, then embrace.” 


The most striking example of suggestion for the control of 
men is to be found in that combination of all these various 
methods which we employ in our systems of education. By 
means of example, reiterated precept, stern discipline, the emo- 
tional stimulation of play, and the rough-and-tumble democ- 
racy of the playground, and through faith in their capabilities 
expressed by one for whom they have either high regard or 
great fear, the plastic minds of the young are molded into a 
more or less uniform type. 

Not less potent is the social suggestion exercised by custom 
and tradition —a molding process that is commenced long 
before a child begins his schooling. By reason of their con- 

nection with the home life, with all of the deepest and most 


356 OUTLINES OF SOCIOLOGY 


lasting emotions, custom and tradition show a strength second 
to no other influence. How often the language learned and the 
habits formed in early childhood sticks to one like burs from 
the forest jungle! Certainly if custom dominates in such so- 
cially insignificant matters, how much greater an influence has 
it on the customs affecting social policies and ideals! More- 
over, the traditions handed down at the crisis-periods of human 
development — the period when the child hungers and thirsts 
for facts and explanations more even than for his more than 
welcome daily bread, and the period of adolescence with its 
house of dreams — exercise an influence, the potency of which 
can best be estimated on the religious side. Endowed with all 
the prestige of age these traditions are passed on from one gen- 
eration to the next. And those customs and traditions having 
to do with social control are enforced by the conscious recogni- 
tion of the wise that such customs and traditions constitute 
the very props of social order.! 

Control of Social Religion. — After society reaches a certain 
stage of development, the legalistic foundations of religion 
give way. In the latter days of the Roman Empire the gods 
of Greece and Rome faded into myths. Their penalties no 
longer inspired fear; their rewards no longer tempted man to 
curb his selfish and anti-social desires. And legal religion, 
in many countries to-day, is undergoing the same process of 
decay; it has ceased to be the right hand of social control, and 
in increasing numbers men refuse to be curbed in their propensi- 
ties by the fear of a god whose laws they desire to break. 

In Rome, the period of decaying belief in the old gods and 
their sanctions was also the beginning of national decay. The 
stern morality of the earlier days disappeared; in the higher 
circles of society the sanctity of the home and of family rela- 
tionships vanished. One of the very reasons for the success 
of Christianity in the Roman Empire was the fact that it sup- 
plied a living faith in place of the dying faiths of the Romans. 
It supplied, it is true, a legal religion in the place of a legal 
religion ; but it supplied more than that. Along with its legality 
there went the inconsistent but closely amalgamated element 
of fraternalism — a fraternalism which was already to be found 
in the various guilds and fraternities of the Empire, but which 


1 Ross, Social Control, Chaps. XII-XV. 


SOCIAL CONTROL 357 


lacked, in these, the emotional content of fraternity under the 
Fatherhood of one God. 

The sense of brotherhood that came with the belief in a god 
who was represented as a merciful father to his children gave 
to early Christianity a remarkable controlling power; for the 
wild natures of men were just released from the superstitious 
fear of gods who did not feel with them in their miseries. The 
one saving force in the Roman Empire, therefore, was the 
Christian church. That that church learned to rule from 
the Empire and changed its form in order that it might rule the 
more easily the disorganized masses of uncontrolled people 
within and without the confines of that ancient state only testi- 
fies to the lack of religious insight in its leaders, not to the in- 
ability of social religion to control its adherents. And even 
after this ecclesiastical machinery had well-nigh choked the 
spiritual life of the church, she still remained a fraternity that 
gripped men with great power; she was still the instrument 
of a social religion; she still opened up the wells of emotion 
in the soul of men hungry for peace with the Infinite. 

That, without adulteration of any sort, this social religion 
would have become an efficient method of social control cannot 
be proved from history; for, except in the isolated cases of 
individuals like St. Augustine, Luther, and St. Frances of 
Assisi, the experiment has never been tried. That, with a 
more completely developed social consciousness among men, a 
more highly socialized population, and the proclamation of such 
a religion by men earnest and sincere in their faith, it would 
meet the needs of men and prove an efficient means of bring- 
ing the will of men into subjection to the social necessities of 
our day, is the belief of an increasing number of thoughtful 
souls in our generation. Is it, indeed, without significance that 
the struggling, downtrodden classes of to-day hail the name of 
Him who was the first to proclaim a social religion of brother- 
hood for all men under one common Father ? ! 

Control by Personal Ideals. — In society men can lift them- 
selves by their bootstraps. The ideals which prevail in a 
man’s group have immense power to mold his animal and 
egoistic impulses as well as his coldly calculating intellectual 
processes. He is moved by the power of ideals which appeal 


1Cf, ibid., Chap. XVI. 


358 OUTLINES OF SOCIOLOGY 


to his self-respect or which are forced upon him by his class or 
party. 

Thus we have, according to Ross, a separation of these 
personal ideals into two classes. There is the group-ideal of 
conduct, which may in time be made a personal ideal by each 
individual in the group; and there is the personal, ideal which 
a man creates for himself out of regard for his self-respect, for 
the sake of his honor, or, if he does not realize his ideal, from 
the contemplation of his shame. It is the control of type which 
causes men in different classes to be governed by different 
ideals. For example, the minister might be guilty of conduct 
unbecoming a minister while doing what would be considered 
proper for the laborer or the policeman. It may even happen 
that a man’s own ideals are much lower than those to which 
society holds him; but he is true to the higher ideals because 
of the consciousness that he is a member of a class which he 
must not disgrace. Custom and habit rule him. On the other 
hand, the man who is critical of self, who has escaped from an 
unthinking subservience to social custom or to class ideals, asks 
himself what kind of conduct he ought to require of himself 
in order to retain his own sense of moral and personal worth. 
He is coerced into a course of conduct, not by the opinion 
of others, but by his own judgment of what his conduct will 
mean to himself, and to society. His conscience is not deter- 
mined by fear of the reprobation of his fellows or of his class, 
but by the sufferings which he will undergo from the whip of 
his own moral judgment. This personal ideal, it is true, may 
not control as many people as does the fear of the disappro- 
bation of their class; but the type and the personal ideal to- 
gether exert enormous influence in the determination of men’s 
conduct in society.! 

Social Control by Ceremony. — Who among us, even in this 
democratic country and in this rationalistic age, has not felt 
the spell of ceremony? Every act of unusual significance is 
surrounded by mysterious rites, whether among the primitive 
savages of Australia or the highly civilized peoples of Europe 
or America. And it is not only the imagination of the child 
or of the ignorant man that is enthralled; ceremony stirs ele- 
mentary emotions even in the souls of the cultivated, who 

1 Ross, Social Control, Chaps. XVII, XVIII. 


SOCIAL CONTROL 359 


understand its motive and have seen through its mystery, as if 
by the force of some dim memory of paths once trodden by 
innumerable ancestors. This mysterious and complicated 
series of unintelligible acts hushes into awe and reverence the 
wild surgings of elemental passion. And under the spell of 
these elementary emotions, the will is dominated by the in- 
sinuating suggestions of those in charge of the ceremony and 
the whole person is subjected to the influence of the presiding 
personality or group. 

Ceremony gathers about our most sacred institutions and 
tinges them with an impressiveness they do not naturally 
possess and which they sorely need, if they are to withstand the 
shock of unrestrained human impulses and desires. Marriage, 
the institution which bridles for us one of the most ungovern- 
able passions of man and brings it into subjection to the wel- 
fare of society; initiation among primitive folk into the re- 
sponsibilities of manhood and womanhood; entrance into the 
church, or lodge, or business corporation; the disposition of 
the dead, that act by which man is reminded of his connection 
with other beings and with the supernatural sanctions which 
are attached to the dead — all these are occasions when it is 
important for the welfare of society that each onlooker be most 
impressively reminded that he has important social duties.! 

Control by Means of Art. — By means of poetry, eloquence, 
painting, sculpture, music, and its various other forms, art has 
power to control man through the domination of his feelings. 
When men must be quickly fused into a living unity, the emo- 
tions are always appealed to; and nothing moves the emotions 
like art. Take, for example, the Psalm-singing of Cromwell’s 
Ironsides and the songs of the German soldiery as they marched 
to the front in the present war. Art, moreover, arouses social 
sympathy. It is like play, which really began as an art; for, 
by exciting their emotions it loosens the restraints which sepa- 
rate men and it binds them together by a common feeling. Its 
appeal is universal; the sentiments which it arouses are common 
to all men. It is used in war, in religion, and in the establish- 
ment of a new order of things. Everywhere is the esthetic 
sense exploited in the interests of society. Saints and heroes 
are painted with beatific countenances, while devils and their 

1JTbid,, Chap. XIX. 


360 OUTLINES OF SOCIOLOGY 


human disciples are given the most detestable forms. And 
whereas moral excellence is described in such esthetic terms 
as to make the quality intelligible and desirable to all, anti- 
social conduct, on the other hand, is stigmatized by adjectives 
and pictured in colors which are associated with the undesirable 
things of everyday life. 

There is still another way in which art fastens upon our 
common longings and converts them to social purposes. The 
soul oppressed with the pettiness, the brevity, and the insuffi- 
ciency of life’s endeavors is given hope for the fulfillment of 
its vast desires; for art points to the stability of the nation, 
the immutability of the group, and the mightiness of the human 
race. All may be fleeting, so far as the individual is concerned ; 
but the lofty buildings, the vast territory, or the achievements 
of a state give to the individual a sense of security and per- 
manence. 

Another thing that art does for us is to glorify our social 
symbols. The flag becomes a thing of great beauty; and the 
splendor of precious metals and jewels is used to draw men’s 
attention from the suffering and self-abnegation of the individual 
for the sake of the group. War, missions, and individual sacri- 
fices for public service are all thus glorified. Again, art pic- 
tures the worker as the happiest of all men. He is “ God’s 
nobleman,” the ‘‘ bulwark of the state’; and his pains and 
deprivations are “heroic joys.’’ The nation for which: he is 
asked to die, or to live through days of painful toil, is a fair 
maiden or matron appealing to the deepest and strongest feel- 
ings in man, the emotions stirred by thought of wife, sweet- 
heart, or mother. Thus, national types like the Gibson girl 
in physical appearance spring up and moral types like that of 
Christian in Pilgrim’s Progress Thus the artist fascinates 
our imaginations with new types of conduct to which we natu- 
rally may be alien and pictures saint and hero in such a way that 
they become models to which we are irresistibly drawn. Thus 
does art lure men on to the great and noble deeds from which 
they naturally recoil, yet which are so necessary for society’s 
welfare. 

Control through the Influence of Personal Suggestion. — 
Probably the first steps in social control were taken by dominant 

1 Ross, Social Control, p. 276, 


SOCIAL CONTROL 361 


personalities. Leadership and submission are to be observed 
even in animal life. And although the influence of what we 
call personality is especially noticeable in primitive societies 
where the social structure, being much less developed, plays a 
subordinate part in social control, yet the influence of example 
is not to be despised, even among a people with the most highly 
evolved social structures. The great man plays his part in 
society to-day just as always; although democracy has trans- 
formed him from a captain of armies to a captain of industry 
or a leader in education and thought, she still has need of 
him. 

The conditions favoring the control of a group by a strong 
personality are, as stated by Professor Ross, great excitement, 
the aggregation of individuals in mobs and masses, and “‘ times 
of alarm and stress.’’ But the causes of his authority are to 
be found, in part, at least, in the natural qualities which the 
leader himself possesses. He has a fine physique, unusual men- 
tal qualities — for example, strength of will and imagination — 
an ecstatic temperament, eloquence, faith in himself and his 
cause, courage and persistence, coolness in excitement, generos- 
ity and love, or a number of these in combination. And the 
force of such qualities is supplemented by the admiration aroused 
in men by the social distinction which a leader has either in- 
herited or achieved through his abilities. 

In the natural development of leadership, now some of these 
conditions and personal qualities count most and now others. 
In primitive societies, where control is by persons rather than 
by social institutions, the emphasis is upon natural ability. 
And in these early societies, control is based upon fear, trust, 
and either a selfish or a disinterested admiration. With the 
growth of disinterested admiration, there develops “a charm 
of persons ” which seizes upon the very citadel of man’s being 
— the imagination and the feelings. 

And, just as in a society which is military in its organization 
conditions themselves are very favorable to the ascendancy of 
personal influence, so, too, does racial stratification favor hero- 
worship. Again, feudal relations, in which the conquered at 
least so far yield to the conquerors as to accept the inferior 
position, promote the power of personal suggestion. It is 
democracy, indeed, which is least favorable to the control of 


362 OUTLINES OF SOCIOLOGY 


the many by a single leader. With the formation of social 
devices which make for the wide dissemination of culture, with 
the opening of the doors of opportunity to every capable man, 
there goes a lessening of those social conditions which give 
artificial emphasis to natural differences between men. Leader- 
ship now becomes preéminence of ability — a leadership which 
we shall never cease to need. For democracy in political, reli- 
gious, industrial, and social life raises the dignity of the average 
man, develops to the utmost his responsibility, and therefore 
diminishes the value of prestige. Thus does democracy, in 
emphasizing the importance of the common man, destroy the 
bonds of the old social control and bring into operation other 
forces of quite a different character. 

It may excite surprise that society should command the 
services of leaders for purposes of social control; for the strong 
man, in seeking his own ends, may wish to control other men 
in the interest, not of society, but of himself. Now, just what 
are the motives which lead the powerful personality to link him- 
self with those tendencies which make for social control? 

He does so because he is usually a man of remarkable mental 
discernment and sees that the issues of his own life are wrapped 
up in the larger issues of the group to which he belongs. If he 
has noble enthusiasm and ambitions, if he loves power and 
achievement, he perceives, for one thing, that the objects and 
achievements of society are so much more worth while than 
anything which he might desire for his own selfish purposes. 
And, too, he realizes that, by controlling others in the interests 
of society, he can accomplish infinitely more than he ever could 
alone. The constituted authorities of State and Church, the 
ideals which possess the soul of a people, and the customs of 
unnumbered generations, yield slowly to any one man, be he 
never so powerful. If he oppose them, he can accomplish but 
little, but with them he can move the nation. Moreover, the 
comparative immortality of society impresses his imagination ; 
his deeds, standing alone, will probably perish from the memory 
of men, but linked with the fortunes of the community, they 
are assured undying fame. And rare is the great leader who 
does not crave a share in the eternal character of the group’s 
achievements. Hence, in degrees varying with both the char- 
acter of the great man and the prevailing conditions of society, 


SOCIAL CONTROL 363 


the influence of his personality is devoted to the interests of 
society." 

Social Control through Intellectual Factors. — An appeal 
to the feelings is not the only method of controlling individuals ; 
another way is to influence the reason and the will. This 
intellectual influence may be secured by offering enlightenment, 
by creating an illusion, or by influencing social valuations. 

(a) A man is often influenced in his conduct by having the 
consequences of his acts presented to him; for considerations 
of prudence determine the actions of most of us. The social 
group, by disseminating information as to the physical conse- 
quences of personal habits and actions, for example, may con- 
trol a man by showing him the effects of vice upon his own wel- 
fare and happiness. Thus the modern war against vice and 
the present health campaigns are both largely an appeal to a 
man’s appreciation of his own welfare or the welfare of those 
with whom he is most intimately connected. Or society tries 
to bring home to the individual the psychical results of indi- 
vidual conduct. We inform the individual that an action, 
repeated often enough, becomes a habit, that one kind of vice 
often drags another in its train, and that mental delinquency 
in one line brings certain other mental consequences in its train. 
We say, “‘ Sow a thought and reap an act; sow an act and reap 
a habit; sow a habit and reap a character; sow a character and 
reap a destiny.” 

But besides showing a man the physical or psychical con- 
sequences upon himself, the organized agencies of social control 
may inform him of the social consequences of ill-advised con- 
duct. From the reaction of individuals whose rights he has 
infringed, or from the reaction of society which, like a kind of 
superparent, cares for the interests of all its children by curbing 
the excessively egoistic conduct of some, he suffers loss of social 
esteem, the respect of his fellows, and the honor which society 
loves to bestow upon the deserving. These reactions are a 
means of teaching a man that his individual actions affect 
others than himself —a lesson but slowly learned by the best 
of us. This sense of social solidarity the group tries, at a very 
early stage, to develop in its members; and gradually each 
member learns to consider his own welfare in terms of the wel- 

1 Ross, Social Control, Chap. XXI. 


364 OUTLINES OF SOCIOLOGY 


fare of the community. Says Ross, “‘ History records the reflec- 
tions of the Elite upon the conduct of life, but neglects the forces 
that held in their humble social orbits the yeoman and the 
artisan. Yet it is safe to surmise that in all free communities 
there was an exudation of proverb and aphorism, gnome and 
parable, legend and moral tale, tending to bring about a canny 
adjustment of men to the requirements of life in common. 
That underground growth we call folklore was full of salty 
maxims and pithy counsels which gave shape to multitudes of 
obscure, unhorizoned lives.” 

In all these ways does enlightenment assist in that social- 
izing process which we call social control. These methods have 
their drawbacks, it is true; for social morality and personal 
welfare are sometimes at variance. There is war, for example, 
or self-sacrifice to disease in order that the group may be saved ; 
and, too, education does not always supply motives strong 
enough to control people of ordinary mental caliber; knowledge 
of the truth does not always induce that emotional impulse 
which constitutes the motive power of action. On the whole, 
however, the more enlightened the people are, the better does 
this method of social control work; as society comes to the 
point in its intellectual development where reason rules, rather 
than fear or impulse, control by information becomes more 
effective. The method has the double advantage, therefore, 
that, as society becomes group conscious, enlightenment is 
increasingly effective and that, on the other hand, as enlighten- 
ment grows in influence, society becomes more conscious of 
itself and of its needs. Thus control becomes less and less a 
matter of instinct and sympathy and more a matter of rational 
consideration. 

(b) Another device by which the judgment of the individual 
is swayed is illusion. When information and intelligence will 
not secure social control, some other method must be found. 
One of these is to employ deception and misrepresentation, to 
use half-truths and prejudices concerning, not only the super- 
natural realm of religion, but the everyday experiences of men. 
And because most people are neither strictly logical in their 
thinking nor scientific in their criticism of what purports to be 
truth, because men seldom are entirely free from prejudices 
of one sort or another, this method has considerable chance of 


SOCIAL CONTROL 305 


success. A few examples will suffice to show how common and 
widespread are the illusions which still exercise control over 
men. The theory is still prevalent that the righteous will 
never be found forsaken, that his children will never need to 
beg bread. Originally, when there was a religious sanction 
for right conduct, such a theory had some significance; but 
as interpreted in modern times, it is pseudorational. In 
spite of our desire to make it the truth, we are forced to admit 
that this axiom of conduct does not always correspond with 
the hard facts of life. But our heroes of the drama, of song, 
of story, and of theology, all triumph. The worthy man suc- 
ceeds; the mean man suffers. The soldier’s widow and or- 
phans will be bountifully cared for. And he who dies in the 
morning of his life gains fame and immortality. 


“The brave 
Die never. Being deathless, they but change 
Their country’s arms for more, their country’s heart.” } 
O, fortunata mors, que nature debita pro patria est potissimum 
reddita!* (Happy the death of him who pays the debt of 
nature for his country’s sake.) On such illusions are built 
most of the superstructure of militarism. 

Of a similar stripe are the political illusions of a group some- 
what more developed than is the military society. The doc- 
trine of the divine right of kings, so long dominant in history, 
and still surviving in the undeveloped nations, is a semireli- 
gious, semirational sanction with which to soothe nascent 
thinkers back into somnolent obedience. Nor does a democ- 
racy escape political illusions. Much of the solicitude for the 
people, much that is done in the name of political progress, is 
pure buncombe on the part of candidates. A study of the dis- 
cussions for the last twenty years of the tariff question or the 
liquor problem, here in the United States, will show how the 
politicians seize upon certain phases of these questions in order 
to secure popular favor. 

Another illusion that has worked in the interests of social 
control is asceticism, so often employed by the church to tame 


1 Bailey, P. J., Festus, V. 
2 Cicero, Philippics, IV, 12, 31. 


366 OUTLINES OF SOCIOLOGY 


men. Whether Catholic or Puritanic, it finds its real explana- 
tion in its power to catch the imagination of men, appeal to 
their desire for release from the evils of a bad social order, and 
bring them into some semblance of social regularity and use- 
fulness. Asceticism fits in with an economy of pain, as Patten 
puts it. Based on an illusion impossible save as pain-wrought 
ideals dominate men’s minds, it pretends to be absolutely self- 
renouncing, when, as a matter of fact, it is only another form 
of selfishness; for it offers security and rest to the disturbed 
soul in the midst of the unrest of social disturbance. 

But it is not only in militancy, politics, and certain stages 
of religion, that illusion has been used to subdue the individual 
for the good of society. Illusion holds sway in industry as well. 
Do the anthracite coal workers strike for certain demands, 
they and the freezing or overcharged public are given to under- 
stand that there is such a thing as the divine right of coal 
barons. If workers demand collective bargaining, they are 
met with the almost unchallenged illusion of “freedom of 
contract ”’ and the contention that every man has a right to 
work. By such half-truths do the lords of industry endeavor 
to cudgel into submission the rising judgment of the workers. 
And any economic theories, once they have served the purpose 
of economic liberation, are repeatedly invoked in the interest 
of social control. Thus laissez faire, once the shibboleth of 
the English industrial revolution, is now seen to have been 
an illusion with which industry whipped into uniformity and 
reduced to control the social heterogeneity of the eighteenth 
century. 

Even in education, half-truths survive and dominate the 
minds of men. What does it signify that the professors in 
some of our colleges and universities insist so strenuously on 
the recognition of an aristocracy of letters? Why do they 
accept with such alacrity and satisfaction the adulation and 
reverence of the multitudes? With the exception of those few 
who foster this attitude from purely selfish motives, they do 
it because such a view of education serves as a most excellent 
instrument for control of the multitudes.1 

(c) The social valuations which are a man’s social heritage 


1Cf. Ross, Social Control, Chap. XXIII, for a somewhat different emphasis on 
details of the process. 


SOCIAL CONTROL 367 


are potent in swaying his judgment. Standards of conduct and 
ideals of character are created by society. And since these 
standards and ideals are intended to be applied to others than 
the makers of them, they are usually higher than those pos- 
sessed by the leaders who make them. But their nature is 
such that men are willing to take them for their own. 

These social valuations are placed on the things that make 
for group safety, such as courage, honesty, and faithfulness ; 
they are given to the things which are codperative in nature, 
such as play and sociability; they are given to music and art, 
to the love of money and women, to all things which do not con- 
sume strength or clash with the interests of others. By means 
of example, exhortation, suggestion, and the quoting of tradition 
and custom these valuations are crowded home upon the indi- 
vidual with almost irresistible power. And, yielding to this 
pressure, he makes his social choices in accordance with the 
valuations made by society, almost unconscious that they are 
being handed to him ready-made. By means of song and story 
they are suggested even to the child; they permeate our table 
conversation and the talk of the street; they are preached from 
pulpit and platform; they are embedded in the homely wisdom 
of proverb and epigram. Finally, they are enforced by the social 
sanctions of esteem, social distinction, and by the penalties of 
disfavor, disgrace, and blame. Strong, indeed, is the character 
who can rise above these social valuations — or subnormal 
in his mental processes. 

There are many ways, therefore, in which the unstable, 
egoistic individual can be molded into some semblance of uni- 
formity with his fellows and be made to follow lines of conduct 
compatible with the definite, common ends of social life. And 
be the appeal an emotional one — through belief, through social 
suggestion, through a social religion, through ceremonies, art, 
or the influence of dominating personalities — or be it an intel- 
lectual one, society controls the individual in the interests of the 
group, and transforms his variant impulses, his selfish desires, 
and his antisocial ambitions into social forces, or curbs them 
in the interests of social safety. 

Means of Control arising from Voluntary Association. — 
Many of the institutions which have been potent influences in 
the orderly arrangement and progress of society were created 


368 OUTLINES OF SOCIOLOGY 


for specific purposes other than those of the establishment and 
regulation of social order. The church, for instance, has culture 
for its aim, the transformation of the individual from one mode 
of thought to another. But to carry out this purpose, it re- 
quires a great organization extending over all parts of the com- 
munity and thus reducing to social order a large number of 
people. It is, therefore, one of the most powerful socializing 
influences that can be named. In the same way, although to a 
less degree than the church, have scientific societies, fraternal 
orders, and recreation societies of all sorts a wonderful socializ- 
ing power. 

Means of Control through Public Opinion and Law. — Public 
opinion is a general means of control which supplements formal 
law and government. On rather a moral than a legal basis, it 
moves with less exactness than law and government; and being 
more flexible in its nature, it is less definite in its immediate 
results. In the long run, however, its service in social control 
is of a highly important nature. It anticipates violations of the 
law and uses its influence before as well as after a crime has been 
committed. Without president, secretary, or board of control 
to dictate its actions, and without any prerogative or legal 
sanction, it yet has the full force of public authority to act 
immediately and informally. Law is the formal means of con- 
trol, by means of which people’s lives are regulated, their rights, 
duties, and privileges defined, the offenses against individuals 
and society determined, and the punishments for violators pro- 
vided. And the government, instituted for the enforcement of 
law, is able, by exercising a police control over the community, 
to maintain social order. Without the regulating power of the 
government it would be impossible to carry on any of the func- 
tions of society. 


REFERENCES 


Gwprincs, F. H. Principles of Sociology, pp. 420-422. 

Kipp, BENJAMIN. Social Evolution, pp. 29-58. 

Mattock, W. H. Labor and Popular Welfare, pp. 17-50, 130-150. 

Ross, E. A. Social Control, Part II. 

SCHAEFFLE, Aucust. Bau und Leben des socialen Korpers, Vol. I, pp. 689- 
700. 


SOCIAL CONTROL 369 


QUESTIONS AND EXERCISES 


1. Name some individual characteristics which make social control 
necessary. 

2. What social ends are in danger of defeat at the hands of individual 
activities which are not socially controlled? 

3. What fundamental fact in society makes social control necessary ? 

4. Name, under the following classes, the agencies of social control in a 
community with which you are acquainted: (a) organized institutions for 
control; (6) institutions not organized specifically for control, but serving 
that purpose incidentally; (c) other agencies. 

5. Show why social control is more necessary in a dense than in a sparse 
population ; in times of war than in peace; in a mixed than in a homogeneous 
population; in a society stratified into classes than in one unstratified. . 

6. Suggest reasons for thinking that social control will become more 
necessary in America; that social control may become less necessary in 
America. 

7. Name some means which are not now in use, but which were employed 
by society to control individuals in the Elizabethan age. Name some 
methods peculiar to our day. 


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SOCIAL IDEALS AND SOCIAL CONTROL 


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CHAPTER I 
THE AIMS OF SOCIETY 


Social Ideals. — Social ideals are programs for the improve- 
ment of human association. It is a necessary outcome of its 
mode of evolution that society is perfect neither in structure 
nor in action; and because of the imperfect articulation of its 
parts, there is a tremendous waste of mental and physical energy 
in the adjustment of its relationships. Since education is fre- 
quently defective, legislation partial, and religion tainted with 
bigotry, hypocrisy, and superstition, absolute justice is unknown 
except in theory; perfect codperation does not exist ; and liberty 
frequently is but the opportunity for a man to enslave himself. 
Society, however, is never wanting in reformers who, seeing 
these defects, raise and advance the standard of perfection by 
pointing out the ideal of social action. And although his plans 
may not always be adaptable to the conditions surrounding 
them, the service of the idealist is most valuable in demon- 
strating how far social practice falls short of ideal aims. 

Revolutions, political upheavals, social agitation, and the 
propaganda of special systems or creeds all are backed by social 
ideals; for somewhere in the midst of the movement, or behind 
it, is a prophet or philosopher pointing out the defects and call- 
ing the group to adopt a new plan. But these very agitations 
and programs of reform raise such questions as the following: 
What is the purpose or aim of society? What conscious purpose 
should society set for itself, towards which its leaders are to 
direct the social development? There have been a number of 
answers to these questions. 

The Greatest Good. — It has often been stated that the aim 
of society is to promote social well-being; and if we can reach 
a proper conclusion in regard to social well-being, we shall be 
satisfied with the statement as it stands. Now, granted that 
social well-being results from the most efficient exercise of the 
functions of society and the harmonious development of its 


373 


374 OUTLINES OF SOCIOLOGY 


members, it does not necessarily follow that social well-being 
means the largest amount of wealth, the greatest intellectual 
development, the most advanced religious thought, the best 
esthetic culture, or the greatest moral force. But possibly all 
of these in certain combinations are included in the idea. 

If we accept the oft-quoted statement that “ the aim of society 
is the greatest good to the greatest number,” we are, until we 
define what constitutes the greatest good and the greatest num- 
ber, still as far from the truth as before. The greatest number 
must, of necessity, apply to the future as well as to the present ; 
for society is a continuous quantity perpetuating itself by the 
replacement of individuals as they disappear. As for the 
greatest good, the term may mean physical well-being, happiness, 
usefulness, culture, or the wealth of a community; but no one 
of these things, taken singly, can insure the greatest good to 
society. Under certain conditions, moreover, the greatest good 
may mean one thing; and under other conditions, entirely 
different things may seem the desirable ones. At one time, for 
example, the greatest good for the greatest number will be 
gained by an extension of economic opportunity; at another, 
by political security; at still another, by advance in culture. 
And in obedience to this principle, the freedom of the individual 
will be curbed in the interests of group solidarity at such times, 
for instance, as in war; yet under other conditions, the individual 
will be permitted to express his individuality. In the ideal 
society, therefore, the term means all these things. 

The Utilitarian Theory. — The doctrine that the object of 
moral conduct is to promote utility began with the Greek 
moralists, who identified utility with happiness. Since that 
time, as its different advocates have approached it from different 
points of view or considered it under varying conditions of society, 
- the theory has undergone many changes. First it was con- 
sidered merely from the standpoint of the individual, but later 
the idea was extended to include social utility. In its modern 
conception it is defined in terms of social progress. But as a 
perfect society cannot be considered apart from individual 
activity, of what value is utility of any sort unless it increases 
the happiness of the individual and gives greater freedom of 
active service? If the utility theory is to be accepted, there- 
fore, it must be considered as both individual and social. 


THE AIMS OF SOCIETY 375 


Nature of Happiness. — If by the word happiness we mean 
the happiness of individuals that compose society, then the 
term, considered in its nobler sense of social adjustment, must 
rise above mere pleasure, as defined in the doctrine of hedonism. 
But since the keenest enjoyment of life must be one of the 
accompaniments of a perfect society, happiness, which is based 
on contentment alone, is not the true aim of society; for many 
of the non-progressive peoples who have scarcely entered the 
pale of civilization are far more contented with their lot than 
are the cultured races who have the very highest degree of social 
development. If, however, in the idea of happiness we include 
a multiplicity of desires for a higher life and the means of satis- 
fying them, we have a tolerably correct expression of the aim of 
society. 

Is the Aim of Society Fixed and Unchangeable ? — In the 
discussion of social aims, we can find no fixed ideals of social 
life or structure to which we may conform. Society never 
becomes entirely conventionalized nor wholly petrified; its 
growth is never completed. Since, therefore, so long as men 
will utilize the forces at hand, society will perpetually reproduce 
itself, the real, the final aim of society is normal progress. If 
there is an equilibrium of social forces, if society is balanced in 
all of its parts, if the social organs are well developed and well 
articulated so as to afford each individual the greatest freedom 
and at the same time the largest opportunity possible, and if the 
whole is moving steadily toward a more harmonious condition 
of things, society is progressive. And this normal progress is all 
we can hope for or be sure of, and indeed, all that we really 
desire. For if we were to have a completed society, growth 
would cease; and not long after the cessation of growth, decay 
would set in. Although people sometimes act as if society had 
reached a stage where it could maintain itself without any effort 
on the part of its component individuals, there has as yet been 
discovered no process by which society will run itself according 
to hard and fast rules. There are many forces, it is true, which 
are seemingly more or less constant. But we must always be 
prepared for the shifting of these forces; for the bringing forth 
of new standards of law, government, morality, religion, and, 
indeed, life; and for society’s constant adaptation to these 
various ideals or standards. Moreover, one of the most potent 


376 OUTLINES OF SOCIOLOGY 


of these forces is the individual with initiative, who may turn 
the stream of social development into entirely new channels in 
a lifetime. And when society begins to realize itself, when it 
becomes conscious of satisfying its own desires and aims, it has 
advanced very far in the higher development of social life. 

The Immediate Social Aim. — Society’s aims change with its 
development. Growing, as it did, out of primitive man’s in- 
stinctive feeling, or conscious perception that association aided 
in his individual survival, it was society’s early aim to survive 
as against competing groups. That aim remains dominant 
even yet; the immediate aim of every society is survival. Who 
has ever heard of a state, a church, or a political party, which, 
after saying to itself, ““‘ Now my work is done; the purpose for 
which I was organized can be better served by my death than 
by my continuance,” then proceeded to put itself out of existence ? 

But the determination of a society to survive as an organiza- 
tion depends for its strength upon how fully its component mem- 
bers believe that its continuance insures their welfare. This 
feeling, while of primary importance, is greatly strengthened by 
many others, which, having their origin in love of home, familiar 
institutions, customs, and ideals, it is to society’s interest care- 
fully to foster. Such, for example, is the tender sentiment for 
“ the fatherland,” for ‘‘ the land of the free and the home of the 
brave.”’ Society’s first incentive, then, for providing for sur- 
vival is the desire among its members for the undisturbed enjoy- 
ment of their particular mode of life, customs, ideals, and the 
realization of their national and individual ideals. 

From the more strictly functional point of view, however, 
the purpose of society is to provide the objective conditions 
under which the individual may secure the most adequate self- 
expression — that is, to insure for him his most perfect adjust- 
ment to his social environment. ‘These conditions Giddings has 
called the “‘ proximate ends” of society. They include provi- 
sions, by the political system, for the security of life and property ; 
they include provisions for insuring to each member equal polit- 
ical rights, equal justice before the law, equal economic oppor- 
tunities, and similar cultural advantages. 

The Ultimate Aim of Society. — But the securing of these 
objective social conditions is not, after all, the ultimate social 
aim. The ultimate aim of society is the creation of social per- 


THE AIMS OF SOCIETY 377 


sonality. Says Giddings: “In thus creating personality, society 
converts mere evolution into progress. Evolution is integration 
and differentiation; it is correlation and codrdination; it is not 
necessarily a betterment of conscious existence. Evolution is 
also progress when each unit of the integrated mass or group 
becomes an end as well as a means.”’! This social personality 
enables an individual to fit in perfectly with the objective con- 
ditions of existence, enables him to codperate with others in so 
molding the social structure that the self-realization of each is 
assured. Society, therefore, gives the individual the guardian- 
ship of government. It does not aim, of course, to make all 
individuals equal; but it does aim, as far as the establishment 
of social order will permit, to give the same opportunity to all. 
Society may, indeed, go a step farther. It may furnish the 
individual with the means for self-improvement; it may offer 
him help and encouragement in his own redemption. Under 
such circumstances, society will not only promote justice among 
men; but by providing means for education and various forms 
of codperative help, it will enable the individual to reach a high 
state of culture. : 

Nor must society neglect man’s development through asso- 
ciation. It is difficult to estimate the extent to which man 
draws his culture or development from others. His mental 
capacity, his material prosperity, his religion and his art, come 
largely from association. Thus while we are working to build 
up the individual by giving him room for action, we must not 
forget that we are also providing for his increased development 
by promoting various social activities. 


REFERENCES 


Extwoop, C. A. The Social Problem, Chap. I, and pp. 189-196. 
FAIRBANKS, ARTHUR. Introduction to Sociology, p. 174. 

Gippincs, F. H. Descriptive and Historical Sociology, pp. 522-540. 
Kipp, BENJAMIN. Western Civilization. 

MACKENZIE, JOHN S. An Introduction to Social Philosophy, pp. 238-295. 
SMALL and VINCENT. Introduction to the Study of Society, p. 72. 

Warp, LESTER F. Pure Sociology, pp. 555-575- 


1 Giddings, Descriptive and Historical Sociology, pp. 522, 523, 526-528; see also 
Giddings, Sociology, New York, 1909, pp. 42, 43. 


“a 


378 OUTLINES OF SOCIOLOGY 


QUESTIONS AND EXERCISES 


1. Point out the aims of the following societies in your community: a 
church, a social club, a commercial club, a literary circle, a debating society, 
a political party. Point out the aims of the United States government. 

2. Show how a government which did not help to increase the wealth of 
its citizens would be justly looked upon as inefficient. 

3. Under what circumstances might its policies, while not increasing the 
wealth of the nation, yet increase the general welfare of society? 

4. Suppose a society, like that of these United States, should pursue a 
policy which would deny to the poor the opportunities that it accords to the 
rich. Would its aim be the general welfare? Why? Suppose that it 
denied to the rich man the same opportunity to exercise his abilities that it 
affords to the poor man. Would it be advancing the general welfare? 
Why? 

5. Show why our ideals of what a society should be lead us to oppose 
“oraft”’ in government. 

6. Indicate how the spending of such vast amounts of money on educa- 
tion contributes to the welfare of society. 

7. What social aim is satisfied by the provision of public playgrounds and 
social centers? 

8. Carefully examine the government of your village or city and indicate 
as clearly as possible just what social aims it is trying to realize. 

9. Why, since they afford pleasure to some people, do gambling and vice 
not accord with the aims of society? 

10. Cite two instances that show how social ideals rather than eco- 
nomic interests or physical environment dominate social development. 
(See the reference to Ellwood.) 


CHAPTER II 
IDEALS OF GOVERNMENT 


An Attempt to realize a Perfect Social State through Govern- 
ment. — Many attempts have been made, through the machinery 
of practical government, to realize ideal social states. Most 
familiar to us, of those of antiquity, is the Jewish ideal com- 
monwealth, in which lawgivers and priests sought to secure 
justice and equal rights for all members of the community, not 
only by establishing social control in public affairs, but by 
developing a code of laws which should severely regulate the 
moral life and the social life, to the very minutest details. It 
was, indeed, a theocratic commonwealth, with religion, politics, 
and social usage all combined in one system. While this ideal 
commonwealth, as set forth with special fullness in the later 
Jewish codes, was far in advance of what was actually realized 
by the Jews, because the Jewish people were dispersed and the 
dream of an ideal commonwealth was not realized, yet many of 
the principles set forth in these writings have had great influence 
upon legislation among all peoples where the Bible has been 
taken seriously. Especially good examples of this influence are 
Calvin’s government of Geneva, Switzerland, and some of the 
legislation of the English Commonwealth of Cromwell. 

The Athenian democracy represents another great attempt 
to institute justice through practical government. It sought to 
regulate all the political affairs of the community by laws 
instituted in the interests of the people. It is true that it was, 
to a certain extent, a government of classes; for the govern- 
ment did not include all the people. Nevertheless, the develop- 
ment of the civic state, with the power of the senate and with 
the privilege of the people to take part in the government, even 
if those privileges were comparatively small, brought forth a 
new era in the development of politics. To establish the prin- 
ciple that every free man had a right to be heard was a long 

379 


380 OUTLINES OF SOCIOLOGY 


way from the Oriental monarchy, where such rights were denied, 
except as it suited the whim of the Oriental prince. This 
declaration of human rights has since found its way into nearly 
all forms of government. , 

Again, the Roman Republic, based upon a control almost 
imperial in its nature, sought to work out the problem of har- 
mony betweeen the different grades of people, giving to all a 
fair representation in the government. ‘The whole system failed, 
however, because of the ruling power of the senate, which, 
through its aristocratic influence, sought to domineer over the 
so-called lower classes. Thus, while the Republic developed 
law, and familiarized men with the rights of government, it 
remained for the Empire to universalize this system of recog- 
nition of the individual wherever he was under the dominion of 
the imperial power. But just as the democracy had to give 
way before imperialism, so was imperialism finally overthrown ; 
and the effort to establish the political and social rights of man 
came to naught. 

So, too, the Swiss Federation, the United Netherlands, and 
the United States have attempted to work out ideal systems 
of government founded on freedom and equal rights. And the 
French nation, struggling for a century under the blighting in- 
fluences of imperialism, injustice, and anarchy, finally, under 
the ‘‘ third republic,” managed, in a measure, to establish the 
rights of men. 

Ideals of Philosophers. — Besides these practical attempts to 
build up government through the influence of lawgivers, poli- 
ticians, and wise statesmen, there have been attempts of philos- 
ophers, who, evincing a lack of faith in the power of the existing 
government to reform social evils, have set forth ideal systems 
of government. The first great monument of this kind was 
Plato’s Republic. It varied widely from the actual condition 
of the republic of Athens of his time; as in the case of all other 
utopias, it was written in a period of social unrest. In the Re- 
public of Plato the community system of society is the one 
recommended. The government goes into details in the regu- 
lation of all social and family relationships, and defines minutely 
the duties and privileges of all individuals who, in the scheme, 
are made subservient to the state. But while Plato, apparently, 
thoroughly believed in the ideas set forth in his Republic, he 


IDEALS OF GOVERNMENT 381 


probably had no hope that such a government would be insti- 
tuted in his own time — perhaps none that it ever would. It 
is, in fact, this very idealism of Plato which is severely criticized 
by Aristotle, who, in his Politics, advances a theory of govern- 
ment founded upon the practices of the best governments that 
history had up to that time known.! ) 

Then there are certain of the Old Testament Prophets who 
set forth, in considerable detail, their dreams of the ideal social 
state. All through the denunciations of Amos runs an ideal 
which involves social justice to the poor and helpless classes ; 2 
and Isaiah, in his statesmanlike duties of counseling the King 
of Judah and his task of upbraiding the rulers of his time, finds 
opportunity to set forth changes which, in his opinion, would 
make Judah and Jerusalem an ideal community under the 
special favor of God. Yet while many others of these Hebrew 
counselors of the nation suggested changes which would secure 
the favor of Jehovah, the condition sine qua non of national life, 
it remained for Ezekiel and the Post-Exilic prophets and writers, 
who were no longer embarrassed by an actually existing Hebrew 
state, to set forth in detail their ideals of a state to be based 
upon theocratic principles. Scattered all through Ezekiel’s 
prophecy are many passages outlining his ideas of the nature of 
the restored Hebrew state; and in chapters thirty-seven to 
forty-eight he presents a unified picture of the whole. More- 
over, from the book of Daniel to the Revelation, the apoca- 
lyptists simply reveled in pictures of the Kingdom of God to 
be realized here on earth.® 

But besides Plato and the reformers of both the Old and the 
New Testament, there are writers from the last years of the 
Roman Empire, from the Middle Ages, and from the early 
modern period, who have advanced theories and plans of gov- 
ernment. Among these are St. Augustine, with his City o 
God; Campanella, with his City of the Sun; Thomas More, with 
his Utopia; Bacon, with his Aflantis; and in more modern 
times Cabet, with his Icaria, and Bellamy, with his Looking 
Backward. The utopias of Plato, More, Campanella, and 


1See Loos, Studies in the Politics of Aristotle and the Republic of Plato, lowa City, 


1800. 
2 Am. 2:6-12; 5:7, 10-13. SIsa. 28: 14-22; 32: 1-8. 
* See especially Isa. Chaps. 40-66; Zeph. 3: 8-20; Ezek. Chaps. 37-48. 
5 Zech. Chaps. 1-6; Dan. Chaps. 7-12; Rev. Chaps. 11, 21: 1-22: S) 


382 OUTLINES OF SOCIOLOGY 


Bacon are, perhaps, the most important; but since to describe 
each one would require too much space, we must content our- 
selves with the observation that each one pictured a perfect 
government where human wants ceased to be troublesome, and 
where harmony, happiness, justice, and love prevailed. If these 
utopias accomplished nothing more, they at least pointed out, 
by way of contrast, the evils of existing governments. 

The Advocates of Socialistic Theories.! — Of a slightly dif- 
ferent character were the ideals of certain French communists 
and socialists of the latter part of the eighteenth and early part 
of the nineteenth centuries. Baboeuf and his followers desired 
to abolish private property and to establish equality and fra- 
ternity by organizing a state of pure communism; and for this 
purpose they organized, in 1796, a band of equals, who attempted 
to overthrow the state. Maintaining that the aim of society 
was the happiness of all, and that happiness depended on 
equality, they emphasized governmental ideals chiefly as a means 
for securing absolute economic equality. 

Cabet, while he believed in pure communism, thought that 
the transition should be gradual, that people, by organizing 
communistic societies at will, could thus slowly transform the 
whole community into a fraternity. He was perhaps the first 
and greatest communist of France and Icaria the most ideal 
community ever proposed. Saint-Simon, on the other hand, 
was a socialist who held that the natural inequality between 
men should be the basis of association. Rejecting the idea of 
the community of goods, he advocated that all should be re- 
warded according to their capacity and that this capacity should 
be estimated according to works. And Fourier, though holding 
doctrines similar to those of Saint-Simon, considered the benefit 
of humanity the highest aim of each individual. Among other 
things there were, according to his theory, certain natural rights 
belonging to each individual, which entitled him to the protec- 
tion and care of the whole community. 

Modern Socialism. — The foregoing are a few of the principal 
exponents of early socialistic theories. If space would permit, 
many others might be named who have expounded complex 
ideas of social, political, and economic readjustment. As com- 
pared with the earlier theories, modern scientific socialism has 

1See Chap. I, Part VII. 


IDEALS OF GOVERNMENT 383 


more particular reference to economic production and distribu- 
tion. Karl Marx, a social democrat and one of the earlier advo- 
cates of socialistic production, insisted on the political organiza- 
tion of industry. He emphasized the great service of labor in 
production and maintained that because of the excessive demands 
of capital, labor did not receive a fair share of the product. 
Social democracy, of which Marx may be called the founder, 
includes, among other theories, the collective ownership of land 
and capital, the abolition of competitive industry, and, conse- 
quently, the social production of wealth. And while Karl Marx 
was advocating social democracy in Germany, Louis Blanc was 
founding state socialism in France. Opposing equality, he set 
forth a system of distributive justice, by which, after each had 
labored according to his abilities, he was to receive a reward in 
proportion, not to capacity or product, but to his need. 

Modern so-called scientific socialism, while in its results at 
least it may involve many of the early doctrines, centers on col- 
lective ownership of the agents of production, and associate 
management of industry. It is opposed to the competitive 
system and private ownership of the means of production; and 
although different exponents of the theory vary as to the extent 
to which it should be carried and the manner of its application, 
its objective point is distribution of income. Dr. Ely’s excellent 
definition expresses the general spirit of ‘‘ scientific ” socialism: 
“Socialism is that contemplated system of industrial society 
which proposes the abolition of private property, in the great 
material instruments of production, and the substitution therefor 
of collective property; and advocates the collective manage- 
ment of production, together with the distribution of social 
income by society, and private property in the larger proportion 
of this social income.” ! 

Modern Socialistic Experiments. — Various groups of people 
have attempted to carry out experiments in government for the 
benefit of human society ; and there have been many individuals 
who have organized themselves into societies for the propa- 
gation of socialistic doctrines. These societies have been of 
three different kinds: anarchistic, socialistic, and communistic. 
The theoretical anarchist, believing that modern government is 
a burden, maintains that, if it could be dissolved, men and 


1 Socialism and Social Reform, p. 19. 


384 OUTLINES OF SOCIOLOGY 


women would form themselves into small groups which would 
conserve their interests by spontaneous social order. So far as 
discontent with present systems of government is concerned 
and with modern forms of social order, the anarchist’s point of 
view is really the same as that of the socialist; but anarchism 
and socialism are widely different in their plans for the reorgani- 
zation of society. While the anarchists hold that there is too 
much government and that it should be reduced to a minimum, 
the socialists insist that government could and should be greatly 
extended so as to cover all of the modern industrial operations. 
Thus, while the one party lays special stress on political ideals, 
the other has for its principal ideal a system of artificial economic 
distribution by which each receives according to his ability or, 
as in some instances, according to his need. 

Then there are the communistic societies, all representing a 
species of socialism. ‘They hold all property in common and 
advocate the absolute equality of all members of the community, 
so far as the rights of property and social life are concerned. 
Many of these societies have attempted practical experiments 
in government, such as the ‘‘ Oneida Communists ”’ of New York, 
the ‘‘ Amana Society ” and the “ New Icaria ”’ of Iowa, and the 
several Bellamy societies of California. These experiments 
have been of such a varied nature, extending from pure com- 
munism to pure industrial codperation, that it is quite impossible 
to classify them, no two of them being exactly alike. The 
nearest that we can approach to a classification would be a divi- 
sion into these three: first, those whose chief principle was 
reward according to ability or service rendered; second, 
those which required service according to ability and gave re- 
wards according to need; and finally, those that had industrial 
codperation for their chief aim. But because, in part, of the 
impracticability of their plans, and, in part, because the people 
who have gone into them have been lacking in codperative 
qualities, nearly all of these experiments have failed. 

There is still another group and one that belongs in a class 
by itself. The people of this group have always advocated 
what is known as Christian socialism, by which they meant the 
making over of the whole political and industrial systems and 
the general social system into a unified society, based upon the 
teachings of Christ. No particular experiments have been tried 


IDEALS OF GOVERNMENT 385 


on this ground, though the propaganda has existed since the 
time of F. D. Maurice and Charles Kingsley. 

The codperative communities have established two forms of 
codperation. The one, known as distributive codperation, has 
reference to the exchange and distribution of goods; and the 
other, called productive codperation, looks after their production. 
Many of these codperative communities have failed; but a few 
have succeeded. It took a long time to learn the codperative 
art; and until it was learned, and until a group of codperative 
people could be brought together, all such experiments proved 
failures. In England, distributive codperation has now become 
a strong movement. It was successfully inaugurated by the 
Rochdale Pioneers in the year 1844; and there are, at present, 
hundreds of societies which do a large codperative business. 
Productive codperation, by far the more difficult to establish 
of the two, was begun on a small scale in England in about 
1850; it has now reached quite extensive proportions and has 
become one of the solid institutions of the nation. The numer- 
ous and successful codperative marketing associations for farm 
and dairy products in Denmark are types of distributive co- 
operation, as are the Grange and Farmers’ Alliance in 
America, the California Fruit Growers’ Association, and in 
the Middle West of the United States the more recent 
organizations for codperative marketing of such products as 
cheese and potatoes. On the other hand, the codperative com- 
panies of Minneapolis and the codperative creameries and cheese 
factories in some of the dairy sections of the United States are 
good examples of productive codperation. Finally, the system 
of profit sharing, so well illustrated in the management of the 
Pillsbury Mills of Minneapolis, the Proctor and Gamble Com- 
pany of Cincinnati, the N. O. Nelson Company of St. Louis, 
and the Cash Register Company of Dayton, Ohio, is an attempt 
to promote a community of interests between employer and 
employee and bring about new social conditions of the laboring 
class. 

Individualism versus Socialism. — Individualism in politics, 
borrowed, for the most part, from the English system, has been 
so very strong in America that any innovation looking toward 
state control of industries or, indeed, toward a community of 
interests in any special way, has not been received with great 

2C 


386 OUTLINES OF SOCIOLOGY 


favor. Always jealous of their individual liberty, the people 
have frequently objected to having their industrial affairs con- 
trolled by laws which would have been to their real and lasting 
benefit. As a matter of fact, the radical theories advanced by 
socialists have so threatened the individualistic system that 
people have been overcautious about the regulation of industries. 
We have seen, nevertheless, the gradual enlargement of the 
powers of the state in, for example, the management of railways, 
through the state railway commissions and the Federal Inter- 
state Commerce Commission, and in the control of other great 
corporate industries by state industrial commissions. Thus, 
while the socialistic state is a long way off and probably will 
never be, in practice, what it is in theory, community of interests 
seems to be better understood and more desired by all classes of 
people than it ever was in the past; and the state now does 
infinitely more for the individual than at any previous period. 
Yet while the state is continually establishing general laws to 
control industries and to improve the general welfare of the 
community, the individual seems to have as much liberty as 
ever. Never before have we seen such public activity on behalf 
of the individual citizen. The food he eats, the milk he buys, 
the clothing he wears, are all carefully inspected to see that he 
gets only those products which have not been exposed to con- 
tamination by disease. The factories in which he works, the 
houses where he dwells, even the condition of his garbage can, 
are looked after in the interest of his health and efficiency. And 
not only is the schooling of his children provided for by a special 
board, but at public expense opportunities for his recreation are 
offered to him. It is not, however, so much a function of the 
state to produce as it is to regulate. 

Ideals of Equality.— One of the important influences in 
modern social life has been the ideal of equality advanced by 
certain theorists. The practices of the Christian church have, 
to a certain extent, set forth this ideal; but more especially 
has it been advocated by radical democrats and radical socialists. 
Taken all in all, that system should be considered an ideal gov- 
ernment which advocates the utmost liberty of the individual 
and at the same time yields the greatest well-being to the com- 
munity at large. Ideals of fraternity, liberty, and equality are 
valuable in pointing out many of the best elements of govern- 


IDEALS OF GOVERNMENT 387 


ment; but the sure foundation of an enlightened government is 
justice. And the sooner this becomes the aim of society, the 
greater the progress that will be made; for such an ideal, we 
are sure, can be approximated in government. Above all is the 
extension of a system of justice to industrial affairs one of the 
pressing problems of modern society. 


REFERENCES 


ADDAMS, JANE. Democracy and Social Ethics. 

BELLAMY, EDWARD. Looking Backward. 

BLACKMAR, F. W. Economics, p. 239. 

Ettwoop. Sociology and Modern Social Problems, Chap. XV. 

Ey, R. T. Socialism and Social Reform; French and German Socialism. 
FREEMAN, E. A. Federal Government. 
More, Tuomas. Utopia. 

PxLato’s Republic. 

Warp, LESTER F. Dynamic Sociology, Vol. II, p. 158. 


QUESTIONS AND EXERCISES 


1. Read the reference to Ezekiel and then read More’s Utopia. Write 
out your impressions of the difference between the two and the similarities. 

2. As revealed in the Federal Constitution, what were the ideals which 
the fathers held for the government of the United States when the nation 
was founded ? 

3. How do these ideals differ from the ideals held by the English goy- 
ernment at that time? 

4. Show in what respects the ideals of government held by the framers of 
our Constitution have changed during the interval between 1786 and 10914. 

5. How has the agitation for industrial democracy affected governmental 
ideals in this country? 

6. What ideal is back of the demand for Old Age Pensions, for Industrial 
Insurance? What ideals prompt the demand for the curbing of trusts, 
the regulation of railroads, the care of children, and the democratization 
of education ? 


CHAPTER III 
CONTROL BY FORCE 


The Ideal of Force in Government. — The authority of gov- 
ernment is so well recognized and so ever present that it is com- 
mon to accept it as the ideal of social order, or at least as a force 
from which there is no escape and no appeal. Occasionally, it 
is true, the voice of the anarchist cries out against it and offers 
to substitute a new system of social order. To the average 
citizen, however, it is but natural that force should seem to be 
the essence of government and the cause of social order; for 
every law has its penalty, every government has its standing 
army, and every community its police. Even in our best forms 
of democracy, the final appeal of government is to force. And 
in the organization of campaigns and the control of government, 
indeed, the leaders of political parties rely upon coercion rather 
more than on codperation —a coercion not much better at 
times than brigandage. 

But while force is an essential element of government, it is 
not the ideal of social control. The authority and power to 
enforce order must rest somewhere, or government is a failure; 
but the state cannot long exist when based upon force alone. 
The highest type of government brings the military and police 
into requisition as little as possible; for government is, after 
all, but a temporary restraint upon the actions of individuals 
until the real elements of social order can assert themselves. 
Hence it is that the law comes in direct contact with only a few, 
and the police force apprehends but a small number of the 
offenders of justice. 

Origin of Control by Force. — The idea of control by force 
has an historic origin; for, in primitive society, where natural 
justice prevailed, the battle was always to the strong. Might 
made right; and that individual survived and succeeded who 

388 


CONTROL BY FORCE 380 


could adjust his own affairs, defend himself and property, or, 
indeed, take the offensive to enlarge his personal power or his 
property rights. Naturally, he who could not, perished or 
became subordinate to him who possessed the greater force. 
And what was true of individuals was also true of tribes. Then, 
as social life became more complex, this power to survive passed 
into the power to rule. People became divided into those who 
governed and those who submitted to their domination, those 
who had obtained the superior position continuing to control 
by force those whom they had subdued in war, by strategy, or 
through necessity. 

Ancient Leadership. — Through physical vigor, unusual will 
power, or extraordinary resourcefulness, the individual became 
a leader. Tradition, prestige, and superstition increased his 
influence; religion and war were his servants. Gradually add- 
ing to his power, and assuming, in war, in the council, or in 
religious ceremony, to represent the interests of the tribe or clan, 
he became king in fact before he was made so by custom or law. 
But while leading the people in the interests of the tribe, he was 
really creating a community of subjects. Not able to keep up 
a display of force and manage all the affairs of the tribal state 
himself, he associated with him, by making it to their interest 
to assist him, a large number of people who were interested in 
government and who worked together with him for the control 
of the tribe or nation. ‘Thus, although theoretically the people 
assumed the right to choose their leader and king, the king prac- 
tically arranged to have himself chosen. 

The Rise of the Governing Class. — The step from feudal 
rule, founded on leadership and service, to aristocratic rule, 
founded on class distinction, was taken when conquerors imposed 
their will upon a conquered people. From the conquerors arose 
a governing class, known as an aristocracy, a class distinctly 
separate from the great mass of the people. As the ruling class, 
they were supposed to be better and nobler than others; and 
their claim to this supposed superiority and nobility they based 
on force. Having its origin in feudalism, where superior ability 
and native shrewdness counted for everything, this governing 
class established its authority by conquest, usually in some other 
region; and in every succeeding form of monarchy, either abso- 
lute or constitutional, such a governing class has continued to 


390 OUTLINES OF SOCIOLOGY 


exist. Wherever nations have continued to grow, however, 
there has been a development of other independent means of 
social order, such as religion, justice, intelligence, industrial 
organization, altruism, freedom of speech, and freedom of meet- 
ing; thus control by force has become less essential, and the 
governing class more useless. But out of all the surviving 
nations, a few were at an early period so impregnated with im- 
perialism and so dominated by the governing class as to be 
unable, even now, to rid themselves of the ancient ideals. It is 
true enough that dukes and grand dukes were once necessary 
to the king and of service to the people; but in the natural 
process of evolution a highly socialized and closely integrated 
society, with the true national spirit, will eliminate archaic 
forms. For people do not exist for the sake of a governing class, 
nor yet for the government. 

The Idea of Control in a Democracy. — Even in a pure democ- 
racy this element of force appears, at certain times, to control 
the public. It is known as the telic force, or that by which 
society moves itself forward to a certain end. In fact, the con- 
trol by democracy, in which every one is supposed to be a sov- 
ereign, is, in some respects, a fiction; in reality there are, in 
every community, ruling ideas, ruling thoughts, and, indeed, 
ruling individuals. And in the nature of things, there must be; 
for, because of a diversity of opinions and prejudices, our democ- 
racy would not always be able to carry out successfully the 
general will of the people. Indeed, so far as governmental 
mechanism is concerned, enlightened absolutism is the surest 
and most economical form of government; its plans to govern 
for the public it carries out with a will and authority which 
render justice to all. Most democratic governments are, in 
contrast, wasteful governments. There is, in the first place, an 
immeasurable loss of power in the attempt to give every man a 
hearing or a part in the government. And, too, if we but turn 
our attention to the dilatory methods, the short-sighted business 
policies, of the common council of a city government, we are 
forced to admit that the democratic form of government has its 
drawbacks. Not only city councils, however, but even legis- 
latures, only too frequently fall short of doing what is for the 
advancement of the community. Above all, the people them- 
selves are frequently so short-sighted that they do not know 


CONTROL BY FORCE 301 


what is best for them; hence they are as liable to take the 
advice of a demagogue as of a statesman. 

But most of the difficulties of self-government arise from im- 
perfect socialization or incomplete social machinery. Govern- 
ment is a great art which but few have learned well. Since 
successive groups of individuals take their turn at being law- 
makers, our legislative bodies are but schools for the practice 
of the untutored; and because any one may aspire to office 
and take his place as an administrative official, if he can but 
get the votes or receive the appointment, it frequently occurs 
that many are elected who are ill prepared for civil service. 
Yet, after all, the safeguard of self-government is the perpetual 
opportunity of the people to choose their own rulers and officers. 
The judgment of the people is said, in the main, to be correct. 
And if through lack of care they have an imperfect and expen- 
sive government, they have, since the control rests ultimately 
with them, only themselves to censure for the burdens which 
they heap upon themselves. To make social control what it 
should be, therefore, universal intelligence and a developed 
capacity for self-government should obtain. 

The Social Will of Democracy. — When once aroused and in 
full action, the will of democracy is as intolerant and absolute 
as the power of the monarch. Its redeeming quality is that, 
although it acts intermittently and represents a series of mis- 
takes, these are followed by corrections which point toward a 
steady, if slow, progress. Its real success, therefore, depends 
upon educating the great majority of the people into an inde- 
pendent moral integrity which will enable them to live above the 
law. And when people have attained to this attitude, there is 
a species of social control which cannot be destroyed by the 
defects of governmental machinery and the machinations of all 
of the demagogues, nor yet by the “ hungry incapacity ” of 
office seekers. 


REFERENCES 


GippINncs, F. H. Descriptive and Historical Sociology, pp. 357-366. 

Ross, E. A. Social Control, pp. 376-432. 

SPENCER, HERBERT. Principles of Sociology, Part V, Chaps. V-IX. 

Warp, Lester F. Dynamic Sociology, “Introduction”; Pure Sociology, 
pp. 184-216, 544-572. 


392 OUTLINES OF SOCIOLOGY 


QUESTIONS AND EXERCISES 


1. Read Giddings, Descriptive and Historical Sociology, pp. 357-359, 
and point out the difference between the power to compel obedience and the 
power to command obedience. 

2. What survivals of control by force exist to-day in our government ? 

3. What proportion of men conform to a course of conduct conducive to 
the social welfare, from a fear of the force of the state? 

4. In the origin of social control, what part does the use of force play? 

5. Read Green’s Short History of the English People, Chap. II, Sec. V, 
and note what part force played in the origin of Norman control in England. 

6. Show how, following William’s conquest, a governing class grew up in 
England. 

7. Give illustrations, from the history of the United States, of control by 
force. 

8. Why is there need for forceful control in a democracy ? 

g. Is there any social justification for the employment of troops in an 
industrial dispute, like that in Chicago in1893, or in Colorado in 1913-1914? 


CHAPTER IV 
THE EDUCATIONAL METHOD 


Force a Temporary Check on Insubordination. — Inasmuch 
as social order has been developed by slow degrees, control by 
force has, at times, been necessary as a temporary check upon 
insubordination ; but it is always soon replaced by other agencies. 
Gradually the idea has grown that other forms of control are 
cheaper and more easily administered; and gradually other 
methods have become the usual ones. Since, however, the con- 
scious effort of society to govern itself demands a recognition of 
the laws of social development and requires, among the com- 
ponent members of society, some ability to control themselves 
in the interests of the group, society cannot do better than to 
adopt the educational method as a means of establishing that 
high degree of intelligence necessary for democratic social control. 

The Idea of Self-Government Demands Intelligence. — We 
hear a great deal about the natural rights of self-government ; 
but if there are such rights, they must have their source in intel- 
ligence. All so-called natural rights must, after all, yield to the 
social choices of the community; for no human being has the 
right to engage in practices detrimental either to himself or to 
others. Unfortunate, therefore, is the society that chooses 
popular government when its citizens have not a sufficient degree 
of intelligence to maintain it. As history shows us, every people 
that has succeeded in governing itself has been of general intel- 
ligence; and each republic that has failed may, in large part, 
trace the cause of such failure to the general ignorance of its 
people. As a matter of fact, where a few citizens are intelli- 
gent and strong and the great mass lacking in intelligence, the 
conditions fit an oligarchy rather than a democracy; and if such 
conditions obtain for long, the ignorant many will be forced to 
yield to the intelligent few. When, therefore, the rulers of an 
ignorant people are sufficiently wise to consider the best interests 


393 


304 OUTLINES OF SOCIOLOGY 


of their subjects, a strong central government, founded on force, 
yields to its people larger immediate return of privilege and 
benefit than does any other form. 

Public Opinion Must Be Improved by the General Education 
of All Members of Society. — If the general intelligence is low, 
public opinion will, of necessity, be wrong in its premises; and 
the type of political and social life which develops will then be 
undemocratic. It is, of course, possible for a community to 
maintain order on a low standard of social responsibility; but 
only that society will be progressive and self-controlled in which 
public opinion is permeated with social idealism. And notwith- 
standing that, in any community, public opinion may some- 
times be created by a few of the more intelligent, the fact re- 
mains that unless the majority has sufficient intelligence to 
understand the ideas of the leaders and make them its own, 
society will be controlled, not by public opinion, but by the opin- 
ions of a dominant few. For it is only when the members are 
in intelligent and harmonious sympathy with one another that 
public opinion can receive full expression — a condition involv- 
ing, not only individual capacity, but the perfection of social 
machinery as well. 

The Improvement of the Type of Government by Education. 
— As education grows more and more general, the critical faculty 
of individuals, becoming stimulated, gradually raises the govern- 
mental ideal. But the development is, indeed, gradual; for 
even when people have determined what is right, they some- 
times find it very difficult so to perfect the machinery of legis- 
lation and justice as to carry out their ideals. As a matter of 
fact, there is nothing in human experience that requires more 
foresight, ability, and harmonious social action than does the 
creation of laws for the government of a free people. And it is 
because the governmental machinery is so imperfect that self- 
government is both a wasteful and an expensive form of govern- 
ment. Each year our statute books show us new laws, useless 
or even detrimental to the best interests of the community. 
Then, while, on the one hand, our courts of justice are slow to 
reach their decisions, on the other, our rapid industrial develop- 
ment is constantly creating conditions that require new legisla- 
tion and new judicial decrees. An enlightened absolutism, 
therefore, which could anticipate the future needs of the people 


THE EDUCATIONAL METHOD 395 


and by its mandates secure them at once, might, at first thought, 
seem preferable to the present unenlightened control by political 
demagogue and selfish trickster. But since there is no way of 
making sure that an absolutism will be socially enlightened, we 
are forced to choose the patent evils of a democracy rather than 
fly to others that we know not of; and in a democratic form of 
government we can at least hope that a general diffusion of 
knowledge will raise the social ideals. 

To What Extent Must All Laws Be Supported by Education 
or Training ? — Through impulsive social action, or the imperfec- 
tion of legislative machinery, it is possible to place upon the 
statute books laws which do not receive the support of the 
people whom they are intended to govern. In the first place, 
people may not have been prepared for them by sufficient pre- 
liminary discussion. Then, too, even after a new law has been 
enacted, the governmental machinery is often slow to come to 
its full support. During this period of lukewarm enforcement of 
the law, however, there is an educative process going on among 
the citizens; and if the law has sufficient backing from the 
courts, the people may possibly become educated to its full and 
free support. But if the law is obnoxious to a large proportion 
of the people, a continual agitation will be kept up by the dis- 
satisfied ones until the law is repealed by their representatives. 
There is now, for instance, a great cry for tax reform; yet the 
adjustment to a new tax law would not beeasy. If the courts 
declared it to be a good and just law, and a sufficient number 
of the people were inclined to obey it, the public could gradually, 
through the process of education, be brought up to its standard 
of requirements. But it can safely be said that no law can 
succeed without the support of public opinion. 

On the other hand, the law is an educator in itself. When 
once established by the will of any considerable part of the 
people, it is the expression of an ideal, a program of procedure ; 
and since all people look to it for guidance, it influences them to 
reach a uniform conclusion of right and wrong. A good example 
of this educative process of the law is found in the prohibition 
law of the state of Kansas. Because of certain political cir- 
cumstances, this law was passed before a majority of the people 
of Kansas really desired it. To keep this statute in force, there- 
fore, it has been necessary for temperance workers to be con- 


396 OUTLINES OF SOCIOLOGY 


stantly in the field, educating the public against the evils of 
drink and emphasizing the necessity of restrictive measures. 
But the fact that the public had, by legislative enactment, com- 
mitted itself to the prohibitive measure was of great value to 
the temperance workers in their educative work. In spite of all 
efforts to the contrary, however, in those communities where 
the majority do not desire the enforcement of this law, it is 
violated to such an extent as not really to be enforced at all. 
And even in those communities where it is enforced, the con- 
stant vigilance of right-thinking people is necessary. Either 
before or after its enactment, therefore, there must be public 
discussion of a measure in order to get a majority of the people 
to assent intelligently to its enforcement. 

Specific Training for Social Life. — Thus the state that is to 
be perpetuated through self-government must see to it that its 
citizens are well educated; and since a clumsy mode of pro- 
cedure might destroy the best efforts of popular government, 
something more than a general intelligence is necessary. Begin- 
ning in the grammar grades and continuing with increased force, 
through the high school and the university, special training 
should be given in all the subjects that pertain to social order 
and social control. It is not the place here to state specifically 
what subjects should be taught and what methods should be 
used to bring about the desired end. Yet it may be said that 
everything that leads to an acquaintance with the political and 
industrial history of the nation, with its social and economic 
conditions, with its forms of government, its constitutional and 
common law, and, indeed, with its social relations, should be 
taught in its public schools. 

Yet while the educating process should begin with the chil- 
dren and continue with the youth of the country, the work is 
not finished with the training of these. And although dis- 
cussion of public questions and some little dissemination of 
information is secured through the press and the platform, 
these agencies are really inadequate to meet the growing need. 
A realization of this inadequacy has recently led to the fruitful 
suggestion that the present public forum, furnished by news- 
papers, books, periodicals, public lectures and addresses, be 
supplemented by neighborhood gatherings of adults in the 
community building, the schoolhouse, for the discussion of 


THE EDUCATIONAL METHOD 397 


questions of common interest.1 The suggestion has received 
the hearty indorsement of men of every political party and 
such leading educational and social bodies as the National 
Education Association, the National Federation of Woman’s 
Clubs, the National Municipal League, the American Federa- 
tion of Labor, the American Prison Congress, and three of the 
national political parties. And Wisconsin has already placed 
upon her statute books a law requiring that, upon the request of 
a certain number of citizens, the educational authorities shall 
open the doors of the schoolhouses for just such purpose.? 
In carrying out this project, there are, of course, such practical 
problems to be met as that of gaining a sufficient number of 
the people of a community to take an interest in the discussion 
of public questions and that of centering the responsibility 
for requisite leadership. But the suggestion is certainly most 
significant and most worthy of an honest endeavor to make 
the public school more effective in promoting the intelligence 
and social efficiency of that ninety odd per cent of our people 
who never get beyond the grammar grades of our schools. 
More than this, special technical schools preparatory to civil 
service should be maintained for those who expect to make gov- 
ernment their vocation; for if a state provides education for 
its own protection and general social well-being, and neglects 
the training of its officials, it is failing to use the best means it 
has for conscious development and social control. 


REFERENCES 


BLAcKMaR, F. W. Federal and State Aid to Higher Education in the United 
States. 

MACKENZIE, J.S. Social Philosophy, pp. 351-366. 

WarD, Epwarp J. The Social Center. 

WarbD, LESTER F. Dynamic Sociology, pp. 540-634. 


QUESTIONS AND EXERCISES 


1. Show why education, custom, tradition, religion, social suggestion, 
and all such methods, soon displace force in the government of a people. 

2. Why is it more essential that the United States, for example, secure 
intelligence among her population than, let us say, Russia? 


1 Ward, E. J., The Social Center, New York, 1913. 
2 Laws of Wisconsin, 1911, Chap. 514. 


3908 OUTLINES OF SOCIOLOGY 


3. Why cannot self-government long remain unintelligent ? 

4. If education is for the purpose of securing an intelligent citizenship, 
what purpose is subserved by education in the classics? Industrial educa- 
tion? 

5. State the arguments in favor of thorough preliminary discussion of a 
measure before it is enacted into law. Against such a procedure. 

6. What arguments can be advanced in favor of putting the law on the 
statute books at the earliest possible date? Against such a method? 

7. Cite examples of legislation enacted without much preliminary dis- 
cussion. 

8. Read, in Municipal A ffairs, Vol. III, pp. 462 sq., and in The World’s 
Work, Vol. V, pp. 3339 sq., the account of Dr. Leipziger’s work in the public 
schools of New York City. Estimate the value of such work in a democracy. 


CHAPTER V 
SOCIAL INEQUALITIES 


The Social Classification of Individuals.— The provision 
for securing for all both equal rights and equal social oppor- 
tunities does not eliminate the possibility of social inequalities ; 
for the status of an individual in society is, to a certain extent, 
measured by his individual ability and the application of that 
ability in an effort to improve himself. Thus, while in demo- 
cratic society there may be a general tendency to make of indi- 
viduals a homogeneous mass and destroy the graded orders of 
ethnic grouping, there yet exists sufficient variety among indi- 
viduals to bring about inequalities in capacity and social posi- 
tion. There is a movement of society, but there is more than 
one “ level of social motion’; consequently society is left in 
strata, and people are grouped about the centers of their own 
activity. We see laborers in the machine shop brought to- 
gether by their particular industry ; we find those of the teaching 
profession in another group; and we discover bankers in a third. 
The character of the work done influences the social grouping 
and, to a_certain extent, determines the social status of an indi- 
vidual. And not only is there a division into groups; but 
within the group there is a secondary classification based on 
ability or position. A great factory, for instance, will have 
managers, overseers, clerks, operators, and helpers. Thus, 
while there is no determined assumption of superiority, these 
natural industrial groups form the centers of social grouping. 

Inequalities Arising from Individual Characteristics.1 — 
Wherever the word “‘ equality ”’ is used in reference to individ- 
uals of a community, it refers to freedom in the choice of oppor- 
tunities, the chance for a man to use his capacities either in the 


1 For a category of social inequalities, see Kelley, Government or Human Evolution, 
PP. 337-338. 
399 


400 OUTLINES OF SOCIOLOGY 


codperative or the competitive market; but it has no reference 
to the equalizing of powers or conditions, nor to the insurance 
of results. All the world is a market; and in it men make the 
best possible exchange of their personal powers or services for 
services of another sort. Now this trading capacity, if we may 
so call it, may be superior physical strength, intellectual power, 
moral character, religious nature, or personal attractiveness. 
And it stands to reason that the individual with a pleasing per- 
sonality can easily obtain an industrial or social position which 
the one of forbidding personality can acquire only by proving 
his natural handicap to be outweighed by other and stronger 
forces, such as will power and intellectual acumen. 

Some of these inequalities of powers arise from natural 
sources. For example, people who are born with some physical 
defect are handicapped when they compete with those who, 
having strong physiques, possess greater trading capacity. 
And just as the man who is endowed with superior brain power 
may, if he use it to advantage, outstrip another of meaner 
intellectual capacity, so, too, will a man naturally possessed 
of high moral qualities have less to overcome and more to 
work with than one born with a strain of moral obliquity in 
his nature. Finally, there are the qualities of determination 
and perseverance, which none of those other capacities can 
compete against; for an individual who has each one of those 
prime qualities in excess may yet be outstripped by one who 
has power to organize his resources, and the force of will to 
apply his powers. Thus the individual who has a strong 
physical, intellectual, and moral nature, together with a pleas- 
ing personality, has the opportunity to acquire a superior posi- 
tion with comparative ease. 

Inequalities Arising from the Natural Environment. — Many 
a tribe or ethnic group has, by settling on sterile soil, condemned 
itself to perpetual poverty. And not only has it lived a dull, 
unprogressive life, but it has sometimes become extinct because 
of the pressure of physical environment. Next in importance 
to infertility of soil are climate influences, for they tend to 
destroy the health of individuals, to limit their labor power, 
to reduce their general vitality. These climatic conditions 
may arise out of poor drainage, excessive heat or excessive 
moisture, great variations in temperature, or generally unhealth- 


SOCIAL INEQUALITIES 401 


ful conditions. For instance, the struggle to overcome climatic 
conditions in the Tropics will not permit of a high degree of 
civilization in that region. As another illustration, the writers 
have in mind a group of people who settled on a river bottom in a 
Western state. In the period of melting snows, this river, 
after plunging furiously down the mountain side, spread out 
into sloughs and bayous full of stagnant water, excellent breed- 
ing grounds for mosquitoes. And because the malaria carried 
by these mosquitoes kept the people sick for a large part of 
the year, their power to labor was curtailed at the same time 
that their expenses were added to. And after they had mort- 
gaged their farms to perpetuate life, they were finally obliged 
to leave the lowlands and flee into the foothills, where a healthy 
climate permitted them to live. 

Then there are the parasite enemies of plants, which must 
necessarily be enemies to man as well. The codling-moth, the 
boll-weevil, the phylloxera or chinch-bug, and the army worm 
sometimes make such ravages on vegetation as to destroy all 
the economic products of a community and reduce the people 
to poverty. Such a calamity may, by giving them unequal 
chances with others, determine their economic and social posi- 
tion in the world. 

Or bacteria, the greatest modern enemies of human life, may, 
through disease, destroy a man’s chances for physical, intellec- 
tual, or social supremacy. Nearly 750,000 preventable deaths 
occur annually in the United States alone. It is estimated that 
$460,000,000 is the annual cost of illness and death in the fami- 
lies of our American working men, or $960,000,000 a year, if 
to the first sum are added loss of wages through sickness and 
death. The sad part of the matter is that at least $500,000,000 
of this expense is unnecessary. Hookworm in our Southern 
states decreases the annual earning capacity by $50,000,000; 
and every year tuberculosis, by throwing thousands out of 
work, drops them from the race for self-support and advancement 
in economic and social welfare.! 

Only, therefore, as science and economic organization are 


1 Fisher, ‘Report on National Vitality,” The Report of the National Conserva- 
tion Commission, Vol. III, pp. 620 sq.: Stiles, ‘Economic Aspects of Hookworm 
Disease in the United States,” Transactions of the 15th Congress of Hygiene and 
Demography, 1913, Vol. II, p. 757. 


2D 


402 OUTLINES OF SOCIOLOGY 


brought to bear upon these enemies of humanity, will the 
inequalities of life be reduced. A short time ago a discovery 
was thought to be made concerning yellow fever bacteria; and 
yet more recently the yellow fever germ seemed to be found in 
a minute animal parasite carried by a species of mosquito. 
The diphtheria germ has been isolated; and it is now destroyed 
by means of the injection of a serum into the veins of the sufferer. 
Then, too, the fight to aid man in his battle with the natural 
enemies of his plants and animals becomes, each succeeding 
year, more energetic, more certain of success. Nor is this all. 
Science is gradually discovering the causes and preventives 
for diseases due to bad climatic conditions. And as a result, 
great natural resources, hitherto unavailable, are now being 
devoted to the advancement of civilization. 

Inequalities Arising from Accident. — Many people lose their 
normal position in the social and economic scale through earth- 
quakes, tornadoes, floods, droughts, railway wrecks, fires, and 
the common accidents of industrial life. These accidents 
naturally have a vast influence over the lives of their victims; 
for they often render people unfit to struggle along in the rank 
and file of humanity. Some, of course, having an inherent 
power of sudden recovery from misfortune, are enabled to regain 
their former position; but there are others who go down in 
the struggle. For example, a certain family owned a piece of 
land along the Kansas River, which for years had yielded them 
a handsome income. But there came a flood which destroyed 
their growing crops, washed away large portions of the farms, 
and ruined or depreciated others. After the flood had subsided, 
they moved back into their home and began, with earnest 
efforts, to till remaining portions of the soil and restore their 
lost fortunes. Unfortunately, however, typhoid fever so pros- 
trated the entire family that they were soon thrown upon the 
care of the public. Thus, within six months, a well-to-do family 
group had been reduced to poverty by accident. Nor is such 
an experience an unusual one. Accident, health, life, industrial 
insurance, and old age insurance schemes promise to do much, 
however, to alleviate such misfortunes as these; for when the 
economic results of these disasters are spread over the entire 
community, equality of economic opportunity will, to a cer- 
tain degree, at least, be secured. So, too, are the inequalities 


SOCIAL INEQUALITIES 403 


due to natural conditions reduced by thrift agencies, such as 
savings banks, — both private and governmental, — safe in- 
vestment companies for the man of small means, and schemes 
like the small allotment plan of Great Britain, by which a man 
has the help of the government to secure a little home of his 
own. 

Inequalities Arising from Social Environment. — Besides 
the natural forces which render unequal the struggle for life 
and wealth, there is a certain social pressure which arises 
from artificial conditions. There are, in the first place, the 
great inequalities of wealth which we meet at every turn of 
life and which, though somewhat dependent upon individual 
characteristics and the workings of natural forces, are, after 
all, largely due to social conditions. If, for instance, a few 
people have absorbed the wealth of the community and used 
it arbitrarily, then all the others have an unequal chance with 
them in the struggle for independence. The fact is that, in 
the modern economic life, the use of capital in production is 
so essential that the man without it cannot compete with the 
one who possesses it. Then, too, the man born in a hovel, 
surrounded by squalor and poverty, has an unequal chance 
with the man born in a mansion, surrounded by culture and 
luxury; for although it is true that the individual born in pov- 
erty may rise above his condition, it is with great effort and 
against fearful odds that he does so. On the other hand, it is 
also true that the man born in the palace may fail to use his 
opportunities and consequently make a wreck of life. Yet 
these various statements are not inconsistent with the general 
proposition that wealth and poverty bring people into the world 
with unequal opportunities for position and power. 

Industrial conditions may also have much to do with the suc- 
cess of some and the failure of others. When there is great 
prosperity in a community, it is easier for people to succeed 
than where there is great trade depression or where there are 
bad conditions generally. But as these business conditions 
are constantly shifting, it happens that even men of foresight 
and shrewdness are frequently ruined by unexpected industrial 
changes. On the other hand, there are men who, associating 
in business with men of industrial power, have the good for- 
tune to enter industrial enterprises which succeed on account 


404 OUTLINES OF SOCIOLOGY 


of the favorable shifting of social conditions. And finally there 
is always that struggling and unlucky majority — men who 
cannot successfully compete with the more fortunate few. 

There is, indeed, an incompleteness of business organization 
which leaves a large number of people outside of the general 
opportunities for business success. Some of the difficulty 
arises from uncodrdinated individual effort in the modern 
business life; but this defect is rapidly being atoned for by the 
organization of men in groups for the purposes of production 
and distribution. And should business ever become completely 
organized on a codperative basis, opportunities would be more 
nearly equalized, and wealth would, to a certain extent, be 
redistributed. 

Nor is inequality of power much less a fact in the political 
world than it is elsewhere in society; for, although it has been 
the boast of the United States that the American people have 
equal opportunities for political and civil power, we know that 
even here there are not only unequal capacities, but unequal 
opportunities as well. Liberty of action may, to a certain 
extent, have been secured; but political equality has not been 
an essential outcome of this liberty of action. Money and 
prestige can still secure place and power, can still blind the eyes 
of justice. And although efforts are being made to secure the 
social equality of every man, both at the ballot box and in the 
courts, the wisdom of man has not yet been equal to the task. 
The corrupt practices acts, it is true, are the attempts of various 
states to correct the inequalities of the ballot box; but up to 
the present, our systems of court procedure have not been so 
perfected that the rich and powerful secure as summary justice 
as do the poor and politically friendless. After all, law alone 
cannot force men to recognize the social rights of others. Such 
recognition must be acquired by the slow process of political 
and social development, the growth of a sense of social justice, 
and a passion for the general welfare. 

But not only are there inequalities of wealth and industrial 
conditions; for even religious belief may be the cause of cer- 
tain definite inequalities. A man, for example, of a strong 
religious nature, may owe his prominence to what he has accom- 
plished in his church; or in his struggle for success, he may 
be supported by some powerful religious organization. He has, 


SOCIAL INEQUALITIES 405 


in either case, an advantage over the man who has influence 
neither in a church nor in a religious society. 

And finally, although here in the United States we have 
assumed that every child has the chance to choose his own vo- 
cation in life, such is not the case. Because of the complexity 
of our social life, the passing of our empire of free land, the 
increasing economic and social stratification of our people, and 
the lack of intelligent guidance of our children and youth, many 
aman is as much “born to” a low plane in our modern eco- 
nomic and social life as was the serf of medieval Europe to serf- 
dom on some particular estate. The chief occupation must of 
necessity be modified by environment. The public mind, by 
the creation of social conditions, sets the limitations for indi- 
vidual choice. No less powerful, on the other hand, in the 
regulation of social position, are the inequalities arising from 
family distinction. A man who, for example, is related to the 
best families of a community has a greater opportunity to suc- 
ceed than the man who is related to its worst families. To the 
term ‘‘ best family ” we do not, of course, give the arbitrary, 
and artificial, meaning accorded to it by polite society; the 
term “best families” is used by us in contradistinction to 
‘worst families.”’ Indeed, it only too often happens that a man 
who, under ordinary circumstances, would succeed admirably, 
fails to gain a position of usefulness and power because of the 
weakness or wickedness of members of his own family. 

The Modification of Inequality. — Education, as it is con- 
ducted by the various states in the Union, represents perhaps 
the greatest power for the reduction of the inequalities of social 
life. The fact that the great mass of the people are associated 
in the same schools and given the same education, suggests that 
a leveling force is constantly being applied to the various social 
inequalities. It must be remembered, however, that the strong 
in mind and body still have the opportunity to outdistance their 
weaker competitors; for those with will and brain power can, 
by availing themselves of the opportunities of higher education, 
gain power and influence over their fellows. And while we 
ought not to wish to diminish such inequality in capacity, we 
ought to try to educate our people to a sense of social respon- 
sibility for their superior natural endowment. For we have 
passed from that old idea of education, — the elevation of one class 


406 OUTLINES OF SOCIOLOGY 


above another, or to give the popular conception, the prepara- 
tion of a man for an idle life. We now look at education as a 
means for elevating society at large and for creating the power 
to do a larger amount of work in a shorter time, to do it better, 
and to make it count in the welfare of society. 

Thus we have seen that there is an insurmountable diversity 
in individual lives which leads from inequality of opportunity 
to inequality of power. This diversity we have, indeed, no 
desire to destroy. It should, however, be the aim of society 
to provide for the development of each separate power and ca- 
pacity by removing or modifying natural inequalities so far as 
science and legislation can. For example, the inequalities of life 
could be greatly reduced by a positive program for better sani- 
tation; the removal of causes of disease; protection against 
accident; the destruction of dangerous microbes, bacteria, 
and predatory animals; the curbing of the activities of predatory 
men and corporations; and provisions for proper recreation. 
Moreover, the removal or modification of artificial inequalities 
might, in a measure, be obtained by better instruction con- 
cerning the rights, duties, and privileges of individuals and by 
the establishment of laws regulating civil service, universal 
suffrage, and equality in the use of public highways, buildings, 
and conveyances. Great care should be exercised to give 
equality before the law and in the making of the law. Such 
instruction and such privileges, together with freedom in 
the choice of position and service and the opportunity for uni- 
versal education, would, indeed, reduce social inequalities to 
a minimum and make social control rather less necessary than 
it is now. 

REFERENCES 


Gipprncs, F. H. Inductive Sociology, p. 238. 
KELLEY, EpMoND. Government or Human Evolution, pp. 335-360. 
Warp, LESTER F. Outlines of Sociology, pp. 262-293. 


QUESTIONS AND EXERCISES 


1. Take a social unit, such as a village, a country township, or a city, and 
make a classification showing the inequalities characteristic of the individ- 
uals therein. 

2. Give an illustration of how social inequality is brought about by natu- 
ral ability; by environment; by social circumstances into which one may 
be born. 


SOCIAL INEQUALITIES 407 


3. Show how the extension of the franchise in England made for political 
equality; how the invention of street cars and the production of such things 
as the cheap sewing machine, the postal savings bank, and the building and 
loan association, iron out the economic and social inequalities between classes. 

4. What effect has such a device as the joint stock company had upon 
social inequality ? 

5. Show how popular education works for equality; how it produces 
inequality. 

6. Why is it not desirable from the standpoint of the social welfare to 
have a dead level of human equality? 

7. Is it socially desirable to have equality of natural capacity? Of 
economic opportunity? Of educational privileges? 

8. What bearing has the fight against disease had on the problem of 
human equality? The agitation for industrial education? For compul- 
sory school laws? For workmen’s compensation laws? For employers’ 
liability acts? For pensions for widows with children? For juvenile 
courts? For scientific relief of the poor? 


CHAPTER VI 
THE IDEAL OF JUSTICE 


The Nature of Justice. — Civil justice, through authority 
expressed in public opinion of law, defines and secures the rights 
of the individual and imposes upon him obligations to society. 
It gives a fair opportunity to every man in the group; it deter- 
mines what belongs to him and what he owes to other indi- 
viduals and to the community. And when a government has 
established justice, there is nothing important left for it to do 
which the individual cannot better do for himself. ‘“* Justice ” 
says Madison, ‘“‘is the end of government; it is the end of 
civil society.”! Not equality, not fraternity, for perhaps 
these cannot be secured by government, but justice is the end 
for which organized government is established. Nor is this 
idea of justice based upon any natural right or law, but upon 
the judgment of society. Its psychological beginning may be 
found, doubtless, in that sense of fairness which arises in the 
mind of an individual when he is brought in contact with others ; 
but its final declaration is a social judgment. Since, then, it 
is an artificial, socially determined right, it may vary with the 
conditions of social order or individual environment. 

So-called natural justice is the attempt on the part of an 
individual to secure his self-determined rights without the 
interposition of a third party. Existing only in an anarchistic 
condition where might makes right; it is the animal struggle 
for survival, the application of a biological law to human en- 
deavor. A survival of natural justice may be observed in the 
family feud, and in a larger way, in the selfish and arbitrary 
struggles for power which nations enter into at the expense of 
others. And expressions of natural justice are the arbitrary 
measures of trusts and monopolies when they are uncurbed by 
social regulation. 

1 The Federalist, II, p. 241. 
408 


THE IDEAL OF JUSTICE 409 


The Arbiter of Justice. — Civil justice implies at least two 
contending parties, or opposing principles, and a third party 
that decides between them. And since, in all social order, 
there must be this authority to decide right and privilege, the 
government takes it upon itself to represent the third party 
and establish justice between contending individuals or fac- 
tions. And just as in the ancient régime the king could say, 
L’etat; c’est mot, so in democracy, that summation of the ideals 
and will of the people, the government, can say Le roz; c’est mot. 

In the evolution of the state, the governing power may take 
many forms; but civil justice develops along with the state 
rather than in accordance with the form of government. The 
horde shows few signs of civil justice; but wherever there is 
self-constituted leadership, there is need for some sort of social 
justice. For that matter, the self-constituted leader maintains 
his position in part by means of his service as arbiter in disputes. 
And, in fact, whether the leadership be self-imposed, established 
by custom, or based on heredity or the choice of the people, 
the leader has always, directly or indirectly, been a judge 
between differing individuals or clashing factions of the group. 
Wherever government exists, however, the leader is but its 
executor; back of the government is the supreme will of the 
sovereign community. If that sovereign happens to be a small 
group, as is sometimes the case just after a conquest, then the 
king represents the oligarchy. If, however, the sovereignty 
rests with all the people, then he represents democracy. Kings, 
rulers, and officers may be its agents, and constitutions, laws, 
and government its mode of expression; but the organized 
social will of the group is the court of last resort, the final arbiter 
of justice. Justice cannot, after all, rise higher than its source. 
Thus, although the character of the organs of justice will deter- 
mine its effectiveness, the knowledge of relationships, the con- 
ception of right and wrong, and the standards of right conduct 
held by a community will determine the quality of justice. 

The Relation of the Individual to the Mass. — In all forms 
of government the individual bears a certain relation to the 
social group at large. This relationship varies in proportion, 
on the one hand, to the degree to which government has de- 
veloped, and to the passion for individual liberty, on the other. 
The extreme example of the subjection of the individual to 


410 OUTLINES OF SOCIOLOGY 


the mass is found in socialism, which requires a complete sub- 
ordination of each to the many. Plato’s Republic gives us a 
vivid picture of this sort of government. And, indeed, the 
practical government of ancient Greece shows the absorption, to 
a considerable extent, of the individual by the government, the 
subjection of the individual to society. But the modern ideal 
democracy insists on political and social codperation in such a 
way as to give the individual a large freedom of choice; that 
is, individual liberty really prevails, although it is secured by 
the codperation of many individuals who are seeking the same 
end. 

The extreme of individualism is exhibited in the political 
theory of the survival of the fittest. When carried too far by 
unscrupulous people, this political individualism leads to a 
constantly recurring despotism. When, however, it seeks the 
highest good of the majority, when it bends its energies to the 
improvement of society, it will be regulated by a political co- 
operation which involves the development of individual powers 
and capacities. And as the group becomes increasingly homo- 
geneous in feelings and thoughts, the restraints on the liberty 
of the individual are lessened; for with uniformity of mental 
and social characteristics, sympathy increases between indi- 
viduals and hostility decreases. Thus is the individual really 
governed by himself. 

Ideal Democracy. — When reduced to its ultimate analysis, 
the declaration that men are created free and equal, with certain 
inalienable rights, indicates nothing more than the right of men 
to make the laws that are to govern them and the right to choose 
the officers that are to rule over them; and do the rulers as- 
sume, for a time, the réle of sovereignty, they are, after all, but 
acting as servants of the people. In our search for the ulti- 
mate authority, therefore, we must not carry too far that idea 
of natural right which received its initial impulse from the French 
philosophers. For it is only by means of codéperation of his 
fellows, who are impressed with the same idea, that the indi- 
vidual determines his right to govern; hence, both the right 
to govern and the right to freedom of individual action come 
from the judgment of society. In other words, the individual 
of to-day may do just what society grants him the privilege 
of doing and no more — that is, whatever he, with the coéper- 


THE IDEAL OF JUSTICE 4II 


ation of his fellows shall determine to be right and just and for 
the general welfare. The right to govern, therefore, is deter- 
mined by the capacity for self-government; and the real free- 
dom comes from the right established by codperative associa- 
tion. The only natural right of the individual is the biological 
right to existence manifested in the law of survival; it is not 
biological fact, however, but social fitness that determines his 
right to share in the government. If, then, there is any natural 
right of government, it is a natural social right rather than a 
natural individual right. Man is born under existing laws and 
social institutions which, as an individual, he cannot overthrow; 
he is heir to conditions which are the fruit of a thousand genera- 
tions of men. These conditions may be wrong, but they have 
been established by combined social action, active or passive; 
and the only manner in which he can influence or change these 
ideals, rules, and customs of society, is through combined social 
action, and whatever society determines to be right or just will 
be the source of individual liberty. 

The Rational Choice of the People. — The social will of the 
people seeks, then, to establish justice among the individuals 
who compose the body politic. And when the social mind, 
after determining what is just and right among the people, 
carries out this social judgment, government has done its ulti- 
mate service to society. Although not the popular idea of 
equality, this plan for social codperation nevertheless insists 
that each individual shall have the opportunity, so far as is 
compatible with social justice, to develop his individual capac- 
ity and exercise his individual powers. But if laws are needed 
to secure political freedom and civil justice, they are also needed 
to secure industrial freedom and economic justice. For just 
as free competition in political affairs, unlimited by social regu- 
lation, leads to anarchy, the outcome of which is a species of 
despotism, so, too, freedom of competition in the industrial 
life, when unlimited by social justice, leads to industrial anarchy, 
whose final outcome is industrial despotism. 

Of course, the ideals of justice held by a community will 
vary from time to time, in accordance with changing circum- 
stances. For example, social justice looked with favor on the 
ideal of lazssez faire before great corporations had so far de- 
veloped as to imperil the liberty of non-incorporated individuals. 


412 OUTLINES OF SOCIOLOGY 


Now, however, governmental interference in the interests of 
justice between corporations and individuals has become neces- 
sary. Again, there was a time when society believed that 
_ Justice in education was done when “ the little red schoolhouse,”’ 
built at public expense, gave the merest elements of an educa- 
tion to those who chose to come. But now social justice is 
satisfied with nothing less than compulsory attendance, up to 
a certain age, at a school where not only the three R’s are 
taught, but where the pupil is trained in the sciences and in 
certain practical subjects as well. It is beginning to be per- 
ceived that, in the interests of social justice, a vocational train- 
ing must be provided for each; that the youth must be taught 
which vocations hold out the best prospects of success; and 
that the adult should be provided a chance to redeem his lost 
educational opportunities. 


REFERENCES 


BLuntscuul, J. K. The Theory of the State, Bk. VII. 

KELLEY, EDMOND. Government or Human Evolution, pp. 211-354. 

MACKENZIE, JOHN S. Social Philosophy, p. 290. 

SPENCER, HERBERT. Ethics, Justice; Principles of Sociology, Vol. III, 
“Political Institutions.” 

WALLIS, GRAHAM. The Great Society, Part I, Chap. VII. 

Warp, Lester F. Dynamic Sociology, Vol. I, p. 503. 

WILLouGHBy, W. W. The Nature of the State, pp. 181-231. 

Witson, Wooprow. The State, p. 623. 


QUESTIONS AND EXERCISES 


1. In what sense is a vigilance committee in a frontier settlement an instru- 
ment of justice? The social will of what part of the community does it 
represent ? 

2. Show how modern social legislation — juvenile court laws, probation 
laws, pure food laws, and legislation for the regulation of the sale of intoxi- 
cating liquors, ‘“‘dope,’”’ patent medicines, etc.— are attempts to secure 
social justice. 

3. In what sense is the “‘personal liberty” argument, as applied to liquor 
legislation, inconsistent with justice? 

4. When the manager of a great corporation says that he will “run his 
own business,”’ why is his attitude antisocial ? 

5. What light is thrown upon the relation between justice and forceful 
methods of social control by the fact that isolated and homogeneous settle- 
ments of people often have no officers of civil justice, such as constables, 
justices of the peace, etc.? What light is thrown upon the more unseen 
restraints P 


THE IDEAL OF JUSTICE 413 


6. Make a list of the various methods by which justice between man and 
man is secured in a certain hamlet, village, or neighborhood which you know. 

7. Show how the school playground prepares children and youth for 
social justice. 

8. What effect upon the development of social justice would a social center 
have — a common meeting place for the discussion of questions? 


CHAPTER VII 


ESTIMATION OF PROGRESS 


Change versus Progress. — Inasmuch as civilization is 
made up of many complex elements, it is difficult to get a stand- 
ard for the measure of progress. A thousand changes may be 
taking place in society, whose final results are so difficult to 
estimate that it is uncertain whether they are progressive or 
non-progressive. 

Observation and historical retrospect at once convince us 
that change is not always progress. Just as, according to the 
accepted doctrine of evolution, there is not only a development 
of life, but also a regressive action, so in society, there is a work- 
ing downward as well as upward. And before we may finally 
determine whether society is progressing, we must consider 
the aims of society and we must determine the standard by 
which progress is measured. The question of aims we consid- 
ered in a previous chapter; the matter of standards is still to be 
discussed. What is the correct measure of art, literature, moral 
action, and political usage? Of course, if our ideals were 
constant, it would be an easy matter to determine progress 
by a comparison of the reality with the ideal. But since these 
are constantly shifting, we are forced to examine the results 
of social action to see whether, as time passes, society is more or 
less able to protect and develop man. There are, however, 
certain unmistakable results of growth which may, at the start, 
be enumerated. 

Closer Integration of Society.— As society develops, it 
becomes more and more closely integrated; the individual has 
a more definite, hence closer, relation to the mass. In our 
own day, for example, people of many different racial types, 
assembled under one government and one national life, become 
one in thought and sentiment in a comparatively short space 
of time. And because of the increased harmony of thought and 
feeling, this process of integration brings about more rapid and 

414 


ESTIMATION OF PROGRESS 415 


more effective social action. When it comes to social action, 
indeed, each of the ethnic groups of the world now has a much 
greater solidity than when men were born under status rather 
than under law; for although there are classes even yet, they 
are based not so much on status as upon ability and occupation, 
and it is easier for a man to go from one class to another. 

Differentiation of Society in Structure and Function. — Since 
society began to develop from the protoplasmic or homogeneous 
state represented by the horde, there has been a continuous 
differentiation into activities and structures; for society grows, 
not only by the enlargement and solidification of the mass, but 
in the separation of the mass into interdependent organs, each 
of which has a function of its own. In government, for example, 
there was first a concentration of all powers in one individual ; 
but gradually there was a differentiation into senates, assem- 
blies, courts of justice, military organizations, and ecclesiastical 
orders. And this differentiation still goes on; new ministries, 
new commissions, and boards, or any other new organs of 
government are created whenever they are needed. Society 
gains immensely in power and social effectiveness by this 
growth, which is one of the signs of progress. Nor is this 
method of development confined to matters of government; 
for, in the economic world, we find each new industry de- 
manding a new group of trained people to carry it on, each 
new invention demanding a new division of specifically trained 
labor. 

Closer Articulation of Parts.— And not only do the old 
organs of government become more perfectly developed, but 
by change and practice, they are made to fit into one another 
like the parts of finely adjusted machinery. Thus we observe 
that society grows in efficiency by increasing its number of 
functions and organs, by perfecting these organs, and by fitting 
these into a more perfect social mechanism. 

Has Each Succeeding Generation Better Life Conditions ? — 
Another method of estimating progress is to observe whether 
the present generation has better life conditions than the pre- 
ceding — that is, greater resources, better methods of service, 
and in a given time, with a given amount of energy, larger re- 
sults. For, if we are to believe the theory of Weismann that . 
permanent characteristics may be transmitted from generation 


416 OUTLINES OF SOCIOLOGY 


to generation, and that acquired individual characteristics are 
not so transmitted, the hope of civilization depends upon bring- 
ing each successive group into a better environment and mak- 
ing certain that the social heritage of civilization is, without 
loss, transmitted by such social machinery as the educational 
system. That is, there must be an accumulation of energy, 
materials, and the fruits of civilization; and if there is to be 
progress, better methods of using social achievements must be 
developed. The real service of education is measured by its 
success in aiding a people to accomplish these objects; the 
real progress of society is determined by conditions such as 
these. And judged by this standard the world is certainly 
ahead of its achievements of a hundred years ago. 

The Improvement of Race or Stock. — Through the accumu- 
lation of wealth, through invention and scientific discovery, man 
is protected from disease, his physical welfare is increased, and 
his life is prolonged for service. But does the racial stock grad- 
ually grow better or worse as disease is eliminated and con- 
trolled? To lower the death rate of a community by even two 
per cent is immediately to increase its labor power, both by 
creating a healthier state of society and by prolonging the life 
of the individual. But may not such conservation of life mean 
also the perpetuation of those unfit to propagate their kind? 
Not in the long run; for the scientific care of the weak should 
not develop weakness, but strength. Society has, it is true, 
many evil effects of degeneracy to overcome; but better food, 
better habits of life, and greater protection from disease ought 
to develop a better racial stock. Furthermore, with the growth 
of science and our knowledge of the principles of heredity, we 
shall take care against the possible weakening of the race through 
the saving of those who, under harsher conditions, would not 
live to perpetuate their kind. Thus will human selection, 
guided by science, come to the support of natural selection, 
turning the survival of the fittest into the elevation and perpetua- 
tion of the best. 

The Equalization of Political Opportunities. — The changes 
in political methods and the development of government have 
brought about a democratic society in which the individuals 
all bear the same relation to the whole body politic. It is only 
natural that, in a government by the people, each individual 


ESTIMATION OF PROGRESS 417 


should have a right not only to participate in choosing legisla- 
tors to make the laws, and officers to execute them, but even 
the opportunity to win such political distinction as his merits 
or ability will permit. Sometimes, it is true, a few, gaining the 
ascendency by machinations, intrigue, and corruption, may 
deprive people of their political liberty and their political oppor- 
tunities; but these conditions are not lasting. For, although 
wealth and prestige still play a considerable part in securing 
political preferment, we find a growing measure of freedom, 
an equalization of individual opportunity in political life, which 
show us that society has progressed. And in spite of the fact 
that the political boss still flourishes in our cities, his power, 
dependent in these days on the imperfect assimilation of our 
foreign population, is part of an outgrown political system 
doomed to pass away. The old class-rule, by means of which 
a few assumed and maintained a monopoly of government, is 
giving place to a government in which the majority decides. 
The Equalization of Industrial Opportunities. — The feudal 
system gave every man a place; it permitted him to change 
neither from one place to another nor, as a rule, from one class 
to another. Now there is no doubt that the class system of 
Europe, with its opportunities for one class and not for another, 
was detrimental to the freedom and mobility of labor. These 
barriers of humanity, however, have been gradually broken 
down, and each individual has an ever increasing opportunity 
to choose his own industrial life. And yet it is beginning to 
be a question whether modern corporate industry, with its 
strict classification of workers on the basis of an almost micro- 
scopic division of labor, has not set a current running in the oppo- 
site direction. Up to the present time, the large amount of 
free lands in America has insured the greatest freedom of 
choice in occupation; if an individual was not satisfied with 
his calling or his salary, he could obtain a farm for the asking 
and begin a new industrial life. On the other hand, the accumu- 
lation of wealth and the organization of industry during recent 
years would seem, in a measure, to preclude the universal oppor- 
tunity of individuals to rise. Yet, in another way, the accumu- 
lation of wealth and the organization of industry have, by devel- 
oping the resources of nature, multiplied the opportunities of 
all members of the industrial group; for while one individual 
2E 


418 OUTLINES OF SOCIOLOGY 


may be limited by the power of organization or the initiative 
of wealth, he has, as a matter of fact, a thousand choices of 
occupation where formerly he had but a few. Inasmuch as the 
industrial life demands skill and ability of widely different 
kinds, it provides for the greatest efficiency and happiness of 
all by giving to each the chance to do that work for which, both 
by nature and training, he is best fitted. The multiplication 
and equalization of industrial opportunities is, therefore, a 
gauge for determining the rate of progress of a nation. 

Increased Service of Wealth in Behalf of Humanity. — More 
and more the surplus wealth of a community is devoted, either 
by direct gift of the possessor or through enlightened methods 
of taxation and public expenditure, to the advancement of the 
people. Through individual management, wealth increases 
the conveniences of life; and by the establishment of schools, 
churches, libraries, gymnasiums, parks, and recreation grounds, 
all the members of society are given the opportunity for im- 
provement. The telephone, telegraph, means of rapid trans- 
portation, and all forms and conveniences of travel, show what 
wealth can do to advance the interests of mankind. The ma- 
chinery used in manufactures, mining, and agriculture enables 
people to accomplish more and to accomplish it more easily 
than was possible in the days of hand work. Wealth, in fact, 
if properly distributed, brings increased leisure for mental, 
moral, and social improvement. And the progress of society 
is clearly indicated by the service of wealth in the development 
of better houses, a better grade of clothing, a more adequate 
food supply, rational means of spending leisure time, and, in 
fact, all the conveniences and pleasures of life. ‘Those nations 
which have not accumulated wealth, therefore, have no formal 
basis of progress; there is no opportunity for them to advance, 
because they have nothing with which to work. It is by the 
accumulation of wealth, and through the well-directed use of 
it, that political and social progress is made possible. More 
and more do men who have accumulated large fortunes realize 
that they are but the trustees of the surplus wealth created 
by a community; and more and more is the effort being made 
to have this wealth bear its proper share in the public expendi- 
tures for the common welfare and in the general advancement 
of humanity. 


ESTIMATION OF PROGRESS 419 


Progress by Adaptation of the Forces of Nature to Man. — 
There is no more definite kind of advancement than is shown 
by the gradual mastery of nature by man. As among animals, 
so, too, in the lower human societies, the organism lived and 
developed by adjusting itself to nature; but the development 
of civilized man is marked by his increasing ability to bend 
nature to his wishes and make it serve his needs. Indeed, many 
of the milestones in the progress of humanity are at points 
where man touches and uses the forces of nature for his own 
benefit, be it a new food discovered, or a new use of one of the 
elements of nature, like electricity, steam, or radium. By the 
application of scientific activity to industrial life, man is able 
to increase the amount accomplished without increasing his 
effort; for a growing intelligence and an increasing variety of 
wants so whet man’s ambitions that the tendency is toward 
more work, rather than less, and work that shows an increase 
in power. Thus there is a tremendous addition to the product 
of labor. When steam power is brought into practical use, 
when electricity begins to be applied to everyday things, when 
the producer and consumer are brought close together by cheap 
transportation, and whenever the discovery of a new scientific 
principle in medicine or chemistry points the way toward the 
preservation of health and the prolongation of life, society ad- 
vances with enormous strides. In every instance we have 
nothing more than the bending of nature to the service of man; 
and just to the extent to which man has mastered nature and 
turned it to his use, a nation may be said to be civilized. Thus 
is the progress of humanity measured by its utilization of the 
forces of nature. 

Social Direction of Society in the Interests of the Individual. 
— Another criterion of progress is the comparative welfare of 
the individual. Society exists only that it may advance the 
welfare of all its component members, so far as the welfare of 
each individual is consistent with that of every other. To 
secure this general welfare, society sets bounds to the activities 
of the individuals who trespass upon the rights of the defenseless. 
For example, it protects women and children against soulless cor- 
porations and ruthless men; and at all times, for that matter, it 
protects the weak against the strong, in the interest of what is, 
in the long run, the greatest measure of welfare for each. 


420 OUTLINES OF SOCIOLOGY 


To secure this aim, society must continually readjust its 
machinery to meet new conditions and to offset and cure new 
maladjustments brought about by calculating and antisocial 
men. The whole process is a conscious direction of social 
development by those who have at heart the welfare of society 
at large. The activities of those, therefore, who look upon the 
social machinery as a means whereby to further their own selfish 
interests must be controlled by society as a whole. The com- 
pleteness with which this artificial adjustment is made is the 
final test of social progress. Civilized society is a highly arti- 
ficial affair; so delicate are its relationships that the machinery 
easily gets out of order. Thus it is the duty of the social en- 
gineer to find satisfactory methods for keeping the machinery 
going —a task none too easy; for, since precedents are few 
or lacking entirely, much of this effort must necessarily be in 
the nature of an experiment. The real statesman, therefore, 
as well as the sociologist, can never lose sight of this social pur- 
pose; and all suggestions for social reform are made with refer- 
ence to their probable usefulness in securing this adjustment. 

But all of these social inventions are for the sole purpose of 
developing social personality; for the individual is the unit 
for which society exists. Society must never lose sight of the 
fact that all its machinery exists to help men to become happy 
and fruitful personalities. We may define this ideal social 
personality as one characterized by high vitality, a well-de- 
veloped mentality, a generously endowed moral nature, and a 
social nature capable, on the one hand, of ‘‘ cheerful and effi- 
cient participation in the normal comradeship and coéperation 
of society,” and, on the other, of “‘ sympathetic and positively 
helpful” altruism.! Or, to put the matter in terms of the psy- 
chology of social development, the purpose of society is to aid 
in the development of those institutions and ideals which will 
allow the individual to “ particularize,” to use Baldwin’s term, 
on the basis of his social experiences, and thus produce innova- 
tions which society may “‘ generalize’ and make available for 
the whole group.” 

Judged by this test, is society progressing? There can be 
no doubt that, in democratic societies, at least, the individual 


1 Giddings, Inductive Sociology, p. 259. 
2 Baldwin, Social and Ethical Interpretations, pp. 539-542. 


ESTIMATION OF PROGRESS 421 


has now more freedom of self-expression, and society more 
rapid and complete command of the contributions of the indi- 
vidual, than ever before. The give-and-take between indi- 
viduals, the influence, on the one hand, of genius upon the less 
highly endowed portion of society, and the psychical and social 
interactions which make up what we call the social mind, would 
naturally bring about these results. And with the growth of 
free institutions, the coming of a more perfect education, the 
gradual discontinuance of war, a growth of international con- 
ciliation of disputes between nations, and the regulation of 
class conflicts, the individual will be more than ever at liberty 
to give rein to his genius, and society more able than ever 
before to direct all its powerful agencies towards a more perfect 
socialization of the individual. 

It is, of course, true that, in a highly dynamic state, society 
may sometimes seem to show retrogression rather than progress. 
It must not be forgotten, however, that, in the midst of rapidly 
changing conditions, it is not always possible to measure the 
degree of success attending any particular piece of social legis- 
lation or any specific device intended to lessen maladjustment. 
He who walks a steamer’s deck must not judge his progress 
by his relation to the sea gull flying in the air, but by some 
landmark, by the stars, by the complicated system of naviga- 
tion in use by the navigator. After all, and in spite of war, 
poverty, and crime, in spite of the ruthless oppression of the weak 
by the strong, does not society, in the most civilized countries 
to-day, more truly answer to the test of progress than ever 
before? One has but to project himself back into Roman or 
Grecian society, in the days of their highest development and 
compare the lot of the ordinary man of those days with his 
chances in ours, to grasp the real significance of our present 
state of society. 


REFERENCES 


BALDWIN. Social and Ethical Interpretations, 1913, Chap. XIV. 

Biackmar, F. W. The Story of Human Progress. 

Ertwoop, C. A. The Social Problem, Chap. I. 

Ey, R. T. Studies in the Evolution of Industrial Society, Chapter, ‘‘ Race 
Improvement.” 

Gippincs, F.H. Principles of Sociology, pp. 356-360; Descriptive and His- 
torical Sociology, pp. 541-545; Inductive Sociology, pp. 249-278. 


422 OUTLINES OF SOCIOLOGY 


KE titER, A. G. Societal Evolution, p. 22. 

Kipp, Benj. F. Western Civilization. 

MACKENZIE, J.S. An Introduction to Social Philosophy, pp. 297 sq. 
Mattock, W.H. Aristocracy and Evolution, p. 351. 

SCHAEFFLE, AUGUST. Bau und Leben des socialen K6rpers, Vol. IV, pp. 152- 


442. 
Warp, LESTER F. Psychic Factors in Civilization, Chap. 34. 


QUESTIONS AND EXERCISES 


1. Show that evolution of society does not necessarily mean progress. 

2. After reading the foregoing chapter and the assignments in Giddings, 
make a list of the things which would serve as a test of progress. 

3. Analyze some small community or group of people with which you are 
quite familiar; compare its achievements now with those of, say, ten years 
ago. On the basis of this comparison, decide whether it is a progressive or 
a retrogressive community. 

4. Show that, while material betterment may mean progress for the 
community, it does not necessarily signify progress. 

5. Outline a situation in which increase of culture might mean retrogres- 
sion rather than progress. 

6. Why may increase of such parts of the social structure as boards and 
commissions signify social progress? Under what circumstances would 
such increase mean the opposite? 

7. If acquired characteristics are not inherited, explain how there can be 
better physical types of men and women. Show what is meant by “our 
social heritage.”” How are the social achievements transmitted from one 
' generation to the next? 

8. What evidence can you give that political opportunity is as great 
to-day as it was a generation ago or even greater? 

g. Is there any evidence that there is greater educational opportunity 
to-day than there was a generation ago? 

10. Is there any evidence that there is greater social application of wealth 
to-day than there was fifty years ago? 

11. What bearing have antitrust laws, railroad regulation, and regulation 
of corporations, upon the social use of wealth and upon industrial oppor- 
tunity for the people? 

12. Compare the statement in the text, p. 419, that progress is measured 
by the mastery of man over nature, with Keller’s statement on p. 22 of his 
Societal Evolution. 


PART PIV E 


SOCIAL PATHOLOGY 


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CHAPTER I 


THE NATURE OF SOCIAL PATHOLOGY 


Normal Distinguished from Abnormal Society. — It is diffi- 
cult to determine and define a perfectly normal society. Pos- 
sibly the difficulty rests chiefly in the fact that there is no uni- 
versally acknowledged standard of correctness. A society with 
all of its functions perfect, with all of its structure complete in 
every part, is in the nature of things an ideal society; for the 
real society is never completed. The same difficulty occurs, 
though perhaps to a less degree, when we search for an indi- 
vidual who is perfect physically, intellectually, and morally. 
Physical perfection, of course, although difficult enough to deter- 
mine, is much more readily measured than mental or moral 
excellence. If, for example, in gauging a man’s moral capacity, 
we accept the Golden Rule for our guide, how shall we deter- 
mine who comes the nearest to its observance? And since, 
on the other hand, even when we have a general standard of 
perfection, we find that different intellects display different 
characteristics of strength, it is difficult to test the powers 
of mind in sufficiently accurate manner to determine whether 
one mind is more perfect than another. 

Nevertheless, there is a normal body, a normal mind, and 
a normal moral nature which we are able to distinguish from the 
abnormal; and just as there are abnormal individuals, so is 
there an abnormal society. We have learned that society is 
composed of many interdependent parts, each with its partic- 
ular function. It is easy to see, therefore, that, if one of these 
component units in any way fails in its normal function, thus 
forcing extra burdens upon other portions of society, such so- 
ciety is abnormal. In such a condition of affairs, however, 
the whole structure is not necessarily defective, but only those 
parts which fail to perform their legitimate or normal functions. 
When, on the other hand, men have learned to live together 


425 


426 OUTLINES OF SOCIOLOGY 


in harmony and so to-codperate that, in the exercise of his own 
peculiar powers, each has all the freedom consistent with the 
same degree of liberty on the part of every other individual, 
society may be said to be, not only normal, but well-nigh per- 
fect. 

Standards of Social Activity Differ in Different Communities. 
— There is such variety in social life that a minimum of require- 
ments is to be expected in a normal society. Means of sub- 
sistence should be assured by fairly close connection with the 
soil and the resources of nature in general. There should, 
on the one hand, be codperation of all individuals in the pro- 
duction and distribution of wealth, no group of individuals 
being relieved from the privilege and responsibility of perform- 
ing its share of the service; and on the other, the wealth created 
should be sufficient to afford leisure for other than industrial 
pursuits. Furthermore, not only should each individual feel 
secure in person and property, but there should be universal 
opportunity for the most socially useful intellectual develop- 
ment, as well as means for promoting and perpetuating a high 
degree of morality. These are, perhaps, sufficient to indicate 
the necessary characteristics of a normal society; yet the highest 
type of society, in addition, would be conspicuous for its reli- 
gious and esthetic culture, for its absence of poverty, pauperism, 
vice, and crime, and for the exclusion of such defective classes 
as fail to respond to the demands of social life. These latter 
conditions, however, can only be approximated; for defects 
are incidental to social development. 

Characteristics of Social Pathology. — Social pathology may 
treat of a general defect which spreads throughout the entire 
social structure; but more frequently the term applies to a 
particular class of people within a social group or to a defective 
function of government. 

There are, in the first place, the unbalanced conditions of 
wealth and poverty. An excess of wealth may render some 
individuals useless to the community, just as its lack renders 
others dependent. These two groups, therefore, each failing 
to perform its normal service to society, become social parasites. 
Poverty, when its victims are slaves to the conditions which 
it imposes, is one of the worst forms of social disease; for, 
stunted in body and mind as are the hopelessly poor, they can 


THE NATURE OF SOCIAL PATHOLOGY 427 


receive but small return for their meager services. The pre- 
vention of poverty, on the one hand, and on the other, the utili- 
zation of wasted effort, have long been problems for reformer 
and social philosopher. In the case of the idle rich the oppor- 
tunity for service is, of course, more apparent than in that of 
the inefficient poor; yet both groups are inefficient in social 
cooperation because of a failure rightly to understand and use 
opportunities, or because of social maladjustment which permits 
idleness to the rich and forbids employment or permits parasit- 
ism to the poor. 

Pauperism. — Following closely upon poverty is pauperism, 
which, passing beyond a mere pathological condition, is a social 
disease having its seat in the individual; hence it cannot, like 
poverty, be cured by changing conditions, although, to be sure, 
a change of conditions is among the means for preventing 
pauperism. Pauperism, when it seizes the social body, is like 
a parasite receiving its sustenance from the animal on which it 
lives and returning no service for its life. And normal society, 
while attempting to check the growth of pauperism that it 
may not become a curse, has learned to treat the pauper like a 
parasite, and to place absolutely no dependence upon him in 
carrying out its legitimate functions. But pauperism is even 
worse than it appears; for, because of the various diseases, 
defects, and evils which it engenders and supports, it tends 
to weaken society by destroying not only its productive, but 
its moral force, and is, in reality, one of the worst forms of social 
pathology. Pretending to want to be respectable members of 
society, but at heart unwilling to pay the price, paupers may 
well be designated as pseudo-social. 

Crime. — Crime is the very worst phase of social pathology ; 
for, of all defects in society, it is the most directly abnormal. 
Openly attacking the fundamental idea in social life — codpera- 
tion in the interests of the whole group — the criminal becomes 
the deliberate enemy of social order; for he attempts to take 
without giving service in return, to destroy the individual with 
whom he should codperate, or at least to live from the products 
of his toil. Not only does crime fall heavily upon its victims, 
whose property and means of service are destroyed, but since 
it costs much to provide the machinery for the prevention and 
punishment of crime, the burden is also heavy on society as a 


428 OUTLINES OF SOCIOLOGY 


whole. And although it is true that the tendency in recent years 
has been to cause criminals under punishment to engage in pro- 
ductive labor, they are still, toa large degree, non-codperative, 
and they never quite pay to society the cost of their care. 

Vice. — Vice works as a slow disease in destroying the vital 
energy of society; no matter what form it takes, it develops 
a pathological condition. Primarily it affects the individual ; 
yet the whole social fabric may become so tainted with vice as 
to have its normal activity destroyed. Vice and crime go hand 
in hand; and laws are usually so carefully framed that vice 
shades off into crime. It is difficult to cure vice; for, insidi- 
ously laying hold of elemental passions and perverting them, 
as it does, it contaminates by degrees all who come in contact 
with it, so weakening them that they cannot carry on the normal 
activities of society. 

Defectives. — The large number of defectives, such as im- 
beciles, such as the deaf, dumb, blind, and insane, must be con- 
sidered from the social standpoint, because their existence con- 
cerns society at large. Not only are they dependent upon 
society for their support, but in a large measure, society is re- 
sponsible for the increase of these classes. The defects become 
social diseases and their prevention a social necessity. In fact, 
many of the most grievous problems of social improvement 
have to do with these classes of defectives. In another chapter, 
the treatment of some of them will be handled more in detail. 

The Pathology of the Family. — As has been stated before, 
the family is, both historically and structurally, the primary 
social group. Its fundamental purpose is to provide a place 
where the offspring may be reared under favorable conditions ; 
but incidentally it represents many different phases of social 
life, such as the biological, the economic, and the educational. 
And even when it is more or less defective in all of these, the 
family life may still be normal. The abnormal or pathological 
condition of society arises from imperfect social relations between 
man and wife, between parents and children, and among children 
themselves. 

Perhaps the first requirement for a normal household is that 
the parents be in good mental and physical health. Lack of 
health in one or both parents often leads to pathological condi- 
tions, not only in the children, but in the home relations. Simi- 


THE NATURE OF SOCIAL PATHOLOGY 429 


lar results arise from those who, by moral nature and tempera- 
ment, are “ unequally yoked,” for incompatibility is as fatal as 
bodily or mental disease. There is, indeed, perhaps no other 
phase of social life in which defects have such lasting conse- 
quences, and are so difficult to overcome or prevent. The fact is 
that family life is so sacred and the customs of matrimony and 
matrimonial life so delicate and of such long standing that it 
is difficult to make any general law controlling them. However, 
a step has been taken in the direction of regulating matrimony 
by those of our states which have within recent years introduced 
bills into legislatures forbidding the issuance of marriage cer- 
tificates to those seriously afflicted with disease; and without 
doubt, it would be to the benefit of the community at large to 
have yet more stringent legislation in the matter. Indeed, as 
part of an ideal system which might be gradually approximated, 
the following provisions might be suggested: No persons shall 
be permitted to marry who have not sound minds; thus will 
the insane and the imbecile be excluded. All persons shall be 
required to show health certificates stating that they are not 
afflicted with certain hereditary diseases. Persons having no 
assurance of means of support shall not be granted marriage 
certificates. Persons shall not receive marriage certificates 
who have not attended certain courses of lectures on physiology 
and hygiene, the lectures being provided for in each county by 
the properly constituted authorities, either in regular or special 
evening school. A system of instruction for prospective home- 
makers, both men and women, shall be established in connection 
with our public school system. The subjects covered shall not 
merely be those now given in the courses on home economics, 
which are intended for only one sex and which cover only one class 
of duties, but shall include training in the duties of husband 
and wife, in the technique of mental and moral adjustment in 
the home, in the rearing of children, and for the men, in the 
economics of household management as it relates to their share 
of the task. Finally, there shall be kept in every county a 
system of registration for all residents, said registration includ- 
ing statistics of age, birth, occupation, ancestry, and so forth. 
It would require great care to put such provisions into operation ; 
but if it were possible to have them satisfactorily administered, 
they could not fail to improve present conditions. 


430 OUTLINES OF SOCIOLOGY 


Divorce, because of the division it creates in families, indicates 
a pathological condition. Nor is it easy to see how it can be 
improved without improving the conditions which are ante- 
cedent to and attendant upon the marriage relation. The 
highest and best form of matrimony is, of course, a codperative 
companionship. In a spirit of love, sympathy, and helpfulness 
man and woman agree to live together for life; and in this 
spirit they build a hallowed place, called home, for the rearing 
and culture of children. But there are many baser motives in 
matrimony. Some men, for example, marry to gratify passion ; 
some, desiring a good housekeeper or servant, secure a wife 
much as they might a horse; some, in their advanced years 
demand a nurse; and some marry for money. On the other 
hand, many women marry merely for the sake of gaining a 
home or support, regardless of what the man may be or of their 
attitude toward him; some marry because it is considered 
unfashionable or unfortunate to remain single; and still others 
marry against their will because of the pressure of relatives. 
Finally, there are many who, dazzled by the glamour of romantic 
love, enter the bonds of matrimony hastily and lightly, only to 
repent of their folly when it is too late for any assistance but 
that to be gained from loose divorce laws. For conditions such 
as these a uniform divorce law throughout the United States, 
neither weak nor excessively stringent, would be of immense 
service; but for remedying this phase of family pathology, 
final dependence must be placed upon education in home 
economics and home sociology and upon carefully developed 
laws regulating matrimony. 

Again, inadequate support of the family, inadequate shelter, 
an insufficient amount of wholesome food, improper sanitation, 
and bad family discipline lead to pathological conditions. 
Where the moral status is not high and the socialization is not 
perfect, the evil tendency of the home is so great as to be over- 
come with great difficulty. It is, in fact, almost impossible 
to train children for the discipline of the larger social life when 
they have been corrupted by their home influences or at least 
have been allowed to go undisciplined. 

Pathology of the State.— Turning our attention to the 
state as it exists in a federal republic like the United States, 
we find that there is a great departure from the ideal govern- 


THE NATURE OF SOCIAL PATHOLOGY 431 


ment, that the real practice is far from what it ought to be. 
Many of the defects of government are due, of course, to an 
imperfect socialization; liberty is at best an expensive thing, 
and a government by the people an unwieldy government diffi- 
cult to establish and difficult to maintain. There is no science 
of legislation, not even a well-learned art. Only a few states 
have adopted the plan of a legislative reference library, with 
a department devoted to drafting bills by a comparative study of 
legislative experience. The authority to make the laws is 
delegated, for the most part, to an inexperienced body; and 
before the members of one legislature have fairly learned how 
to provide for the needs of the people, they are turned out to 
make room for others. Asa result our statute books are covered 
with obsolete laws — laws that have been of little or no benefit 
to the public, as well as some that are a positive injury. And 
when, in addition to the other difficulties, are added the evils of 
political corruption and the machinations of the demagogue, 
the imperfections and misrule are sufficient to warrant us in 
complaining of decided maladjustment in politics and govern- 
ment. 

Pathology of Education. — Again, our educational systems, 
forgetting to adapt means to ends, frequently fail to provide 
for a wide citizenship. Much of our training in the schoolroom 
is imperfect, unbalanced, and on account of its evil social 
results, decidedly pathological; for, by overtaxing the intellect, 
such training develops a highly nervous people without sufficient 
bodily support. Moreover, there are many positive defects, 
such as bad methods of instruction, an incompetent teaching 
force, a poorly coérdinated system, and curricula that fail to 
produce the desired results. 

The education provided by literature is also pathological. 
From all the various books which are published and placed at 
the disposal of the public, it chooses those which interest and 
amuse. And since much of our cheap literature is positively 
bad; since in its character of communication of knowledge it 
sets forth falsehood for truth and generally wrong ideals of life ; 
and since, by arousing uncouth or irrational desires, it causes 
people to deceive themselves, its perusal leads to degeneration. 
The pipe line may be perfect, but it may carry germs of disease. 

The newspaper, because of like imperfections, has its patho- 


432 OUTLINES OF SOCIOLOGY 


logical side. Pretending to be a leader of thought and a teacher 
of men, it frequently sells its services, becomes commercial, and 
publishes that which pleases its patrons, regardless of the truth 
or the evil effects on a community. The newspaper has, there- 
fore, become to a large extent a purely commercial affair, which 
seeks to supply the demands of the news market; and some of 
the viler sort go to the length of depending upon a species of 
blackmailing, through which they receive advertising material as 
a sort of “hush money.” Hence, while we concede the great 
service and great usefulness possible to the newspaper, we have 
to acknowledge that it has unguessed possibilities of evil. 

Many newspapers publish sensational material which gives 
incorrect impressions and wastes time with its long explanations 
about unimportant events; and some color news to suit their 
purposes. It is really difficult to point out a remedy for these 
conditions; for, since the present feverish state of society de- 
mands lively news, a dull paper will not be read. The attempt 
of Charles H. Sheldon to remodel the modern newspaper on a 
Christian basis was a failure. It had many good features, such 
as the reduction of descriptions of crime to a bare statement of 
fact, and the elimination of spurious advertising material ; 
yet, aS a newspaper, it did not satisfy the public. A modern 
newspaper must, to succeed, be bright, racy, and “ newsy ”’; 
if it fail to be interesting, few will want it. After all, the pro- 
prietor of a paper furnishes the kind of wares that are salable 
in the market; and nothing but a thoroughly socialized public 
opinion can regulate the educational influence of the newspaper. 
Nevertheless, each succeeding year shows fewer newspapers of 
the baser sort — evidence of the improving moral tone of the 
community; and it must be acknowledged that there are some 
fearless newspaper editors who are voices crying in our social 
wildernesses. 

The Non-social Group. — One of the less obvious conditions 
of social pathology is to be found in the non-social groups. 
There are, of course, some individuals who would spend all their 
time and thought for the welfare of others; with natures practi- 
cally devoid of selfishness they are always solicitous for the 
success and happiness of individuals or earnestly working for 
the highest well-being of society. They are, in fact, so extremely 
social as to be almost pathological. But there is the other 


THE NATURE OF SOCIAL PATHOLOGY 433 


extreme case, that of individuals so selfish that they take no 
interest in their fellow-men. The lives of such are one perpetual 
struggle for survival and advancement; nor do they hesitate to 
advance their own interests at the expense of others. But a 
perfect social group demands coéperation and harmonious actiy- 
ity; it is easy to assume, therefore, that this non-social class is 
pathological, or that at least it presents a case of arrested de- 
velopment. 

Again, in our large cities, where there is a dense population of 
different nationalities, where, on account of the differences of 
language, habits of life, customs, traditions, and ideals, codpera- 
tion is slight and socialization imperfect, we have evidence of 
social defects which, from their intensity, amount to social 
disease. As a matter of fact, the social condition of our large 
cities demands a constant warfare with vice and degeneration in 
all its forms. Nor is the country always pure; for, while it 
supplies the cities with vigorous manhood, it contributes also 
its quota of vice and crime. 

These various social maladjustments by no means exhaust 
the list that might be made of what constitutes pathological 
conditions in our social structure. And since it would be im- 
possible to discuss all the various forms of social disease, three 
have been selected for discussion within the limits of this treatise 
—namely, poverty, crime, and degeneracy. These will serve 
to give concrete illustration of the nature of the problems with 
which society must deal in her efforts to secure a more perfect 
adjustment of her machinery for producing the social individual ; 
and they will serve to indicate some of the methods which ex- 
perience has shown may be used in securing that adjustment. 


REFERENCES 


DEVINE, EpwarD T. Principles of Relief, Chap. 1; Misery and Its Causes, 
Chap. I. 

Ey, R.T. Studies in the Evolution of Industrial Society, Chapter on “‘ Race 
Improvement.” 

HENDERSON. Dependents, Defectives, and Delinquents, 1901, Chap. II. 

HunrtTER, ROBERT. Problems of Poverty. 

SMALL AND VINCENT. Introduction to the Study of Society. 

SMITH, SAMUEL G. Social Pathology, Chap. I. 

WarRNER, Amos G. American Charities, Revised Edition, Chap. I. 


2F 


434 OUTLINES OF SOCIOLOGY 


QUESTIONS AND EXERCISES 


1. Define biologically a normal individual. 

2. Criticize the following definition of a normal member of society, or a 
socius: A member of a social group who functions in his social relationships 
so as to forward the social aims of the group. 

3. Would a normal member of a society of savages necessarily be a normal 
member of a civilized society? Why? 

4. Give reasons why a society in the Middle Ages might be considered 
normal, and one with the same ideals, organization, and methods might be 
abnormal in this century. 

5. Apply your conclusion to the criticism of a society organized on a mili- 
tary basis to-day. Apply it to one organized on the basis of the doctrine of 
laissez faire. 

6. Since brigandage was once an honorable occupation, why is it called 
a crime to-day? 

7. Why is pauperism considered an indication of social pathology? 

8. Vice was once such a normal condition that it was attached to the 
temples of the gods; why is it looked upon to-day as antisocial ? 

9g. What light does the position of this chapter throw upon the conten- 
tion that crime is an atavism, 7.e. that it is a sign of reversion to an earlier 
type of conduct? 

to. A man once had as many wives as he could afford to support; why 
is it that now the polygamous family is looked upon as abnormal ? 

11. Why is it that the recent war is looked upon by the conscience of our 
country as dangerous to the welfare of the world, when, until recently, war 
was the usual thing between nations? 


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CHAPTER II 


POVERTY: ITS CAUSES AND REMEDIES 


The Extent of Poverty. — One can better come to an appre- 
ciation of a problem if he can have a few figures, rather than 
general statements, to assist his imagination. In 1905 85,290 
individuals were reported in almshouses in the United States, 
and 80,346 more in permanent homes for adults, these latter 
being chiefly aged and incurable dependents. Besides these there 
were 92,289 in orphanages and homes for children and 25,466 
in municipal lodging houses and temporary homes.’ As long 
ago as 1890 a number of authorities estimated that at least 
3,000,000 people in the United States, or one twenty-fifth of the 
population, were receiving aid which was reported. And Pro- 
fessor Bushnell estimated that the annual cost of supporting 
this army of dependents was not less than $200,000,000 or an 
amount equal to one tenth of the total wages paid by all the 
manufacturing plants of the country.? 

Robert Hunter estimated, in 1904, that, in addition to those 
dependent, there were 10,000,000 of our population who were 
‘““much of the time underfed, poorly clothed, and improperly 
housed,” who were, in other words, in poverty. This is, of 
course, only an estimate, but it is based upon such indications 
as the following: in 1897 29 per cent, and in 1899 24 per cent 
of the people of New York State applied for relief. After ex- 
cluding one half of those who applied for dispensary help, the 
statistician still finds the percentages mounting up to 19 per cent 
and 18 per cent respectively for those two years; and if all dis- 
pensary cases are omitted, still 12 per cent of the population of 
the state of New York applied for relief. In Boston, in 1903, 
20 per cent of that city’s population were aided by public relief 
authorities alone; and in that same year 14 per cent of the 

1 Devine, Misery and its Causes, pp. 43, 44- 
2 Henderson, Modern Methods of Charity, p. 390. 
435 


4.36 OUTLINES OF SOCIOLOGY 


families living on Manhattan Island were evicted from their 
houses for non-payment of rent. Statistics showed, furthermore, 
that 10 per cent of those who die in the borough of Manhattan 
are buried in the potter’s field. And the United States Census 
for 1900 demonstrated that about 100,000 persons in New York 
were unemployed from four to six months of the year. On the 
basis of these figures it was estimated that 14 per cent of the 
people of New York State are in distress.! 

Yet, if in this country the situation as suggested by these 
figures is bad, the figures available for Great Britain show a con- 
dition fully as bad or worse.? 

Immediate and Remote Causes of Poverty.— The causes of 
poverty are not easily discovered for the reason that they may 
extend over a long period of time in their operations and may 
arise from many sources. Indeed, such is the case as regards 
all sociological phenomena. ‘There may be immediate causes 
which are easily discernible; but there are always other deep- 
seated causes, that, through a chain of events, reach back to 
remote or primary forces.- Nevertheless, by statistical deter- 
mination or case counting, we can obtain sufficient data to 
classify most of the primary causes of poverty. 

Characteristics of the Individual. — First, there are charac- 
teristics of the individual which, arising from hereditary in- 
fluences, always indicate weakness of some sort, although the 
extent of hereditary influence in inducing poverty has not been 
fully determined. Recent studies, however, throw a very in- 
teresting, though somewhat uncertain, light upon the relation 
between poverty and both physical and mental degeneracy. 
For example, Goddard, in his study of the Kallikak Family, 
showed that a considerable number of the descendants of the 
feeble-minded Martin Kallikak, Jr., were also shiftless and more 
or less dependent on others for support; and on the basis of 
some study of the question, Goddard estimates that 50 percent 
of the inmates.of.almshouses are feeble-minded.* While this is 

1 Hunter, Poverty, pp. 20-65. ’ 

2 Space will not permit the inclusion of the figures, but they are readily acces- 
sible in such intensive studies as Booth’s Life and Labor of the People of London, and 
Rowntree’s Poverty, and in an extensive report, a Blue Book by the British Govern- 
ment, entitled Public Health and Social Conditions and The Separate Report of the 
Royal Commission on the Poor Laws and Relief of Distress by Wakefield, Chandler, 


Lansbury, and Mrs. Sidney Webb, 19009. 
® Goddard, Feeble-mindedness, Its Causes and Consequences, 1914, Pp. 17. 


POVERTY: ITS CAUSES AND REMEDIES 437 


the estimate of one who, because he deals constantly with one 
particular defect, may be somewhat biased, and while the 
estimate must be held subject to the correction of further in- 
vestigation, it is the opinion of a man who has studied feeble- 
mindedness more closely, perhaps, than any other in this country, 
and it stands as a challenge to anybody to disprove it by an in- 
dependent investigation. Miss Kite’s The Pineys, Dugdale’s 
older study of The Jukes, McCulloch’s The Tribe of Ishmael, 
Blackmar’s The Smoky Pilgrims, Danielson and Davenport’s 
The Hill Folk, and Gesell’s The Village of a Thousand Souls 
are reports of other investigations which supply indications 
that degeneracy may be a potent cause of poverty. 

It must not, however, be understood that poverty is a defect 
which can be inherited. The suggestion is that poverty may be 
a result of some hereditary defect like feeble-mindedness, in- 
sanity, or some other inheritable trait of a degenerate character, 
but there are certain influences of environment which, at the 
present stage of social science, seem very much stronger than 
those of heredity, so far as inducing poverty is concerned. What 
is the relative importance of the two factors it is impossible to 
state at this time except in very general terms. A broken-down 
nervous system, certain diseases like syphilis, and such charac- 
teristics of individuals as are inheritable, cause failure in the 
struggle for existence and certainly are not to be overlooked in 
search for the causes of poverty. Nevertheless, the preponder- 
ance of evidence is in favor of external conditions as the greater 
cause of poverty ; for causes of this sort are much more numerous 
and, as far as present knowledge goes, seem to affect many more 
people than do the inheritable defects. But how environmental 
conditions may affect the production of inheritable degeneracy 
we are not able to say absolutely, although there is some evi- 
dence pointing to the fact that degeneracy is induced by bad 
natural and social conditions. These two classes of influences 
often operate together; and they enter into each of the causes 
to be discussed in the following sections. 

Undervitalization and Indolence.!— There are many people 
who, because of certain biological characteristics, are under- 
vitalized and who, in consequence, have an indolent nature. 


1 For outline of causes of poverty see Warner, American Charities, Revised Edi- 
tion, p. 37, and Devine, Principles of Relief, p. 155. 


438 OUTLINES OF SOCIOLOGY 


Such people have great difficulty in overcoming obstacles to be 
met in the struggle for wealth or for mere existence, and it 
would be impossible for such people, without complete change 
of physical and mental characteristics, to overcome the inertia 
which leads to poverty. 

There is no way as yet known to science by which people who 
are born deficient in vitality may have this defect remedied. 
Negative eugenics have been proposed as a method by which 
the birth of abnormal individuals may in the future be prevented 
by keeping such living individuals from having offspring. ‘This 
end could be gained either by an operation to render impotent 
their generative organs, by life segregation, or by some manner 
of inducing them to refrain voluntarily from parenthood. Posi- 
tive eugenics, on the other hand, endeavors, by the promotion 
of selective mating, to secure a new generation produced by 
parents who answer to the tests*of such vigor and mental alert- 
ness as are desirable in social beings. These suggestions are 
interesting; and negative eugenics, as applied to the manifestly 
abnormal classes, deserves serious consideration. It is doubtful, 
however, whether we know as yet enough concerning heredity to 
warrant our going further with selective mating than the educa- 
tion of people to the importance of clean, strong parenthood. 

Disease. — In his tables in American Charities, Warner has 
given us sufficient evidence to show that sickness is the greatest 
single cause of poverty. Devine says that 75 per cent of all 
poverty is immediately due to disease! — not 25 per cent as is 
usually supposed. And investigations carried on in Buffalo, 
Boston, New York, and other large cities show that sickness is 
the prime cause of poverty. Thus, while we still need to know 
the social conditions causing sickness, it is of value to know 
the extent of this proximate cause. However independent a 
family may hitherto have been, if sickness leaves the wage earners 
unable to work for their daily bread, to say nothing of being 
unable to pay for medicines, doctors, and nurses, the family may 
perhaps never recover from its calamity. And not only may 
disease leave the bread earners unfitted for work for many 
months or years, but by causing death, it may leave a dependent 
family helplesss. Perpetual poverty accompanies such un- 
fortunate conditions. 

1 Misery and its Causes, p. 54. 


POVERTY: ITS CAUSES AND REMEDIES 439 


Many things can be done, however, to diminish the importance 
of this grave cause of poverty. The conditions, for example, 
which produce undervitalization, such as bad housing and 
unsanitary conditions about a city or a rural home, can be 
changed; and by means of education, the conditions under which 
people work may be improved. There should be wise factory 
laws and fair hours, a minimum wage law in the unorganized 
industries, and carefully devised laws regulating the employ- 
ment of women and children. Moreover, there should be dis- 
semination of information concerning the causes of disease, pro- 
tection against diseases by proper vaccination and quarantine 
regulations, and early attention to the first signs of disease and 
the prompt removal of their causes. There should be many 
safeguards and measures such as these. 

Lack of Judgment.— Many people, though well-meaning 
and industrious, fail to exercise a wise economy in applying their 
earnings to the purchase of food, clothing, and implements of 
general use. And since they are but poor managers of their 
own affairs, they are unable to cope with the difficulties that 
beset them in the world about them. There is nothing truer in 
the world of poverty than the sentiment, long ago expressed, 
that ‘‘ Poor men have poor ways.’ On the other hand, there 
are many who, for a time, have felt the grinding heel of poverty, 
and by means of courage or skill in management, have risen to 
a position of independence. Wise in choice, thrifty in manage- 
ment, and careful in the use of articles in their possession, such 
as these are possessed of characteristics which go far towards 
the maintenance of their independence and the gradual increase 
of their wealth even on comparatively small incomes. In 
strong contrast are those, who, with opportunities for advance- 
ment, either fail to seize them, or in attempting to take advan- 
tage of them, find themselves unable to manage; for, no matter 
how many good things come their way, their poor methods will 
counteract all their efforts to rise. People who have had much 
to do in attempting to relieve the poor have found it impossible 
to help individuals of this class without furnishing some method 
of supplementing this lack of poor judgment. To such an ex- 
tent is money squandered, are opportunities neglected, and 
the wrong choice made, that all attempts toward independent 
existence are neutralized. 


440 OUTLINES OF SOCIOLOGY 


The introduction into the schools of compulsory home eco- 
nomics will do much for the cure of this evil. To-day the wives 
are the spenders of the incomes; and up to the present wise 
training has been lacking. Often too busy in their school years 
to study household management at home, and deprived of any 
such training in the schools, our housekeepers are often waste- 
ful in their household management. Nor is the thing to be 
wondered at. And even if they have had some experience at 
home, how often has that home training included proper instruc- 
tion in buying? 

Safe and sound investments for small investors would, of 
course, help in the solution of the problem. The Postal 
Savings Bank provides opportunities for the investment of 
savings, as do the enterprises of many banking institutions 
and certain building and loan associations. Such encourage- 
ment given to the man working for small wages does much to 
promote thrift. But these agencies for saving need to be in- 
creased in number and improved in the strength of their appeal 
to the poor; and to supplement them, there is need of an educa- 
tional campaign and the creation of a social ideal and social 
customs which will check the present tendency towards wasteful 
expenditure and will tend to promote saving. Indeed, the 
place to begin is at the top, among the upper classes of society ; ; 
for we are a nation of wasteful spenders. * 

Unhealthful Appetites. — People who have unhealthful appe- 
tites are not lacking in formidable enemies to thrift and inde- 
pendence. ‘These unhealthful appetites are usually cultivated, 
although the hereditary influence sometimes appears in a system 
so weakened that the body and mind are susceptible to all evil 
influences. While the influence of intoxicating liquors has been 
entirely overestimated as an actual cause of poverty, it is never- 
theless a strong factor in destroying an individual’s power of 
independent action. Many families live in squalor, want, and 
helplessness, because the bread-earner persists in spending his 
income at the saloon, where he daily lessens his earning capacity 
and his chances to compete with his fellows. Liquor, as a 
beverage, is always a waster, and often a destroyer, of mental, 
moral, and physical capacity; it interferes, in the long run, with 
industrial efficiency and is increasingly a cause for discharge 
from employment. , 


POVERTY: ITS CAUSES AND REMEDIES 441 


Alcohol in excess attacks the seat of the will power in a 
peculiar way; for it destroys moral courage, a quality highly 
essential to success. Narcotics in excess are like drugs; for, 
while tobacco, for example, may not be considered as vitally 
destructive to the human system, it affects the nervous system 
and in many cases destroys the efficiency of individuals — 
especially when taken in excess by the young. And since it is 
likely to be more expensive than either the drug or the liquor 
habit, it rapidly absorbs the surplus cash of the individual ad- 
dicted to it. On the other hand, the use of morphine, opium, 
cocaine, and similar drugs, taken for the purpose of drowning 
trouble or relieving pain, quite frequently leads to poverty and a 
long train of attendant evils. 

Laws regulating the number and conduct of saloons, and provi- 
sions aimed, like those of the Gothenberg system of Norway, 
toward removing the profit from the sale of strong drink, would 
do something to cure these evils. But even more important are 
educational measures for teaching people the facts as to the 
effects of alcohol and narcotics — not, of course, the pseudo- 
science now taught in most of our schools, but the results of 
careful scientific investigations. Along with these measures 
must go the removal of the cause of drink, both physical and 
social. Unstable neurotic conditions in men and women often 
induce a craving for drink, just as bad nutrition, overwork, and 
worry may. In order to remove the causes, therefore, atten- 
tion must be paid to the conditions under which people live and 
work. Again, people drink for social reasons; for alcohol 
and narcotics promote genial flow of sociability. But the 
substitution of other means of social stimulation, as furnished 
by recreation and social centers, will, it is believed, do much 
toward displacing the demand for artificial stimulation now 
furnished by alcohol and other drugs. 

A depraved sex appetite is no less conducive to poverty than 
the love of rum. Still as true as in the days of the Hebrew 
Sage are the words, ‘“‘ For on account of a harlot a man is brought 
to a piece of bread.”’! The recent report of the Vice Commis- 
sion of Chicago estimates that 5,540,700 visits to prostitutes are 
made annually by men in Chicago alone, and at a total esti- 
mated expenditure, on the part of these men, of $15,699,449. 


1 Prov. 6: 26. 


442 OUTLINES OF SOCIOLOGY 


It may be noted in passing, however, that these millions of 
visits are made by an estimated 200,000 of Chicago’s men.! 
From these figures some idea may be gained of the enormous 
waste in money alone which is imposed upon this class of men 
by uncontrolled sex appetite. And of course, these enormous 
figures take no account of the expense involved in dealing with © 
diseases arising from vice, of loss of earning capacity, of the 
suffering and death that falls to the lot of innocent wives and 
children, as well as to the guilty husbands and fathers. 

What part uncontrolled sex impulses, exercised in normal 
relations, may play in reducing physical efficiency, we have no 
means of knowing until physicians make public the knowledge 
they are able to obtain in their practice. Nor do we know how 
great are the inroads of private vice upon growing children. 
In both these ways, doubtless, unfettered natural impulse lays 
a heavy tax upon the physical and mental efficiency of the race, 
because what is controlled in the animal by instinct is supposed 
to be controlled in man by reason; and the sanctions of reason 
are less powerful and more uncertain in their operations than 
are those of instinct. 

Forbidding Personal Appearance. — Many people have a 
great deal to overcome on account of a something called person- 
ality, which depends not merely upon physical structure or 
mental attitude, nor entirely upon clothing or personal habits, 
but isa “coftbination of all these in making one man an agree- 
able personality and another the opposite. To a certain extent, 
of course, a personality may be cultivated or improved; but a 
a large measure it depends upon hereditary characteristics and 
early training. However, he who is afflicted with a disagreeable 
one, can, to a certain degree, be taught to have a pleasant address 
and a neat appearance; and he may possess a genuineness and 
sincerity which will make up for the lack of many other things. 
Yet the fact remains that one man will apply for a position and 
be turned away, while another will easily succeed in obtaining 
it; and there may be no other reason than that the second has a 
pleasing personality, and the first has not. But it sometimes 
happens that, after a man with unprepossessing personal ap- 
pearance is once employed, his really pleasing character comes — 
to the front and overcomes first impressions. But such is not 

1 The Social Evil-in Chicago, pp. 106-115. 


POVERTY: ITS CAUSES AND REMEDIES 443 


always the case. When it becomes necessary to reduce the 
force of laborers, although skill may seem to be the first consid- 
eration, it frequently occurs that the disturbing, disagreeable 
person is the first to go. The quarrelsome, unsocial individual, 
by creating a perpetual disturbance, destroys labor power and 
is, therefore, not wanted; the one who survives to-day is the 
one who has a strong, socially codperative nature, who can work 
uncomplainingly with others and for others.! 

Shiftlessness and Idle Habits. — Arising from certain in- 
dividual characteristics, shiftlessness becomes a sort of habit. 
Sometimes these characteristics are inherited, but often they are 
the result of disease. The shiftless, indolent “ poor white 
trash ”’ of the South were once looked upon as inherently lazy ; 
but recent investigations have shown that two millions of 
people in this country are suffering from hookworm, and as 
a consequence of decreased efficiency, are causing an eco- 
nomic loss of at least $50,000,000 a year.” Again, in other 
sections, malaria has so depleted the vitality of the inhabitants 
that they have the reputation of being lazy. The shiftless man 
does his work poorly and half-heartedly; and he avoids, or at 
least delays, any excessive labor, wasting his time because of his 
inertness. He leaves the windowpanes out and thus increases 
the expense of fuel; he leaves the vegetables unprotected in the 
garden, so that the frost comes and destroys them. ‘The furni- 
ture deteriorates for the lack of care; and, in fact, everything 
is lost because of this lack of economy and thrift. Individuals 
of this sort cannot help being poor so long as such habits control 
them. 

There is no cure known for the person who is inherently lazy 
and shiftless. If he is such by reason of disease, because he 
lives in bad conditions, or because he has become discouraged, 
something can be done to help. A thoroughgoing fight against 
the disease which saps his vitality will repay the effort; the re- 
moval of a family from bad sanitary and housing conditions will 
sometimes supply the incentive to stir them to industrious habits; 
and their removal to a community where their bad habits will 
not be popular will sometimes stir their sluggish spirits to action. 


1See Devine, Principles of Relief, p. 155. 
2 Stiles, “Economic Aspects of Hookworm Disease in the United States,’ Transac- 
tions of the 15th Congress of Hygiene and Demography, 1913, Vol. III, p. 757. 


444. OUTLINES OF SOCIOLOGY 


Unwholesome and Poorly Cooked Food. — Many people have 
been rendered poor through the use of poor food; many may 
attribute their failure through life to the dyspepsia or other 
maladies acquired through the lack of proper diet. It has been 
demonstrated it is possible to keep a laboring man in good 
health on food that costs fifteen cents a day. It is frequently 
true, however, that a good steak is rendered unpalatable and 
unnutritious by the cooking, and it not infrequently occurs that 
laboring men who use a poor quality of poorly cooked food 
revert to stimulants in order to counteract the evil effects. 
Poor food leads to malnutrition and engenders weakness or 
disease. Moreover, it is only recently that another test than 
the appetite has been suggested as to what toeat. Investigations 
by Professor Atwater showed that people do not as a rule buy 
those articles of food which have the highest nutritive value 
relative to their cost.1 Domestic Science is now working on 
the problem of ascertaining the food value of different articles 
of diet and the twin problem of how to combine different articles 
in menus so that the maximum of satisfaction in taste and the 
greatest nutritive value may be combined in a meal. This will 
do much to assist the poorer classes in reducing the high cost of 
living and contribute to the reduction of this cause of poverty. 

The Disregard of Family Ties. — Disregard of family ties 
has contributed directly and indirectly to poverty. Many 
people have become poor through broken families. Frequently 
the father deserts the wife and children, leaving them in a 
helpless condition, or less frequently the mother deserts the 
father and children. Sometimes by separation through divorce 
the children are scattered and rendered homeless and helpless. 
Moreover, it sometimes happens that the bickerings of husband 
and wife render home a place of wretchedness. Such condi- 
tions represent a dissipation of individual and social forces and 
render all concerned less efficient as bread earners, and lead to 
social maladjustments out of which grows peverty. Nor must 
it be forgotten that the home is the original economic unit. 
It is the center whence radiates into the lives of the coming gener- 
ation economic ideals and methods, which, if the home is broken 
up or is not what it should be, are learned much less thoroughly 
elsewhere. A good system of family desertion laws will help 

1 Atwater, Farmers’ Bulletin, No. 142, United States Department of Agriculture. 


POVERTY: ITS CAUSES AND REMEDIES 445 


solve the problem of poverty due to desertion, but the other 
cannot be reached without giving much more attention by 
society to the art and science of home making from every 
point of view which affects the economic efficiency of the workers 
and of the managers of business and of those who preside in 
the homes of the country. Schools of domestic economy will 
do much for the women, but they will not touch seriously the 
side of the problem pertaining to the men, and for neither the 
women nor the men will they give that intimate touch of emo- 
tion which makes the ways learned in childhood hold with vise- 
like grip. The home must also be preserved for the inculcation 
of the virtues of industry, perseverance, and adaptability to 
circumstances and those moral and spiritual qualities which have 
no small part in the making of efficient economic and social 
personalities. 

Influences of the Physical Environment.— A good many 
causes of poverty are wrapped up in bad physical or natural 
conditions. Among these may be enumerated the inadequate 
natural resources, such as the poor soil, lack of water, or other 
means of support. With the growth of means of easy and cheap 
transportation and the development of the habit of migration, 
this cause of poverty can be partly remedied. The migrations 
from the crowded and often infertile regions of Europe to 
America, Australia, and South America are illustrations of one 
way in which the difficulty can be met. 

Again, there are bad climatic conditions which affect the 
health, strength, and prosperity of individuals. Sometimes 
these conditions may not be overcome. Often, however, the 
wit of man combined with capital can change such conditions. 
Climate, as it affects crops, is manageable by adaptation of kind 
of crop to the climate. Once it was thought impossible to raise 
corn in Minnesota and Wisconsin. By the production of new 
varieties a corn has been found which can be raised successfully 
in those northern states. Then there are plant and animal 
parasites which frequently destroy the means of wealth 
production and leave the people impoverished thereby. So 
wonderful has been the advance of science, however, that there 
is hope now that every plant inimical to man’s prosperity will 
either be so changed that he can make use of it, or that it will 
be exterminated. The success of agricultural experts during 


446 OUTLINES OF SOCIOLOGY 


the past quarter of a century has been so great that the task 
appears by no means to be hopeless. Every year now sees 
some new process invented to check the ravages of pests which 
ravage the farmer’s fields and destroy his crops. Again, acci- 
dents are caused by natural forces, such as floods, earthquakes, 
storms, and drought, which give individuals such severe reverses 
as to destroy their independence. Defective drainage, also, 
leaving swamps that produce disease, may impoverish a whole 
community through sickness and frequent death. 

Many of these causes are dependent more or less upon the 
judgment of individuals in presuming to reside where Nature 
will not give them sufficient support or where she destroys them 
through her violence. Yet, on the whole, many of them can 
be remedied by society. Accidents caused by natural forces 
are now being lessened by the campaign of “‘ Safety First,” by the 
invention and adoption of safety devices, and when they do 
occur the loss involved is distributed over society by various 
kinds of insurance against accident. Drainage, while yet in its in- 
fancy so far as great tracts of land are concerned, is bound to 
become more general as land becomes more valuable and the 
population denser. The recent agitation concerning the evil 
effects of undrained pools and swamps on health together with 
the growing popular concern for health which has resulted from 
the newer medical discoveries relating to the causes of disease 
will do much to secure further work in reducing this cause of 
poverty. At the same time it will make available for cultiva- 
tion an area of new land which will help much to provide people 
with cheap land, homes, and an opportunity for eqonomic in- 
dependence. : 

Influence of Social Environments. — Poverty may be de- 
veloped through bad associations. The crowding of the poor 
into large tenement houses where there is insufficient light and 
air breeds and intensifies poverty. The evil influence of im- 
proper housing cannot be overcome by ordinary charity to the 
individual, for it has been found that if bad home surround- 
ings cannot be changed, it is idle to hope for any perma- 
nent improvement in the inmates. Evil associations in general 
beget idleness, shiftlessness, and evil habits, and induce 
the conditions favorable to poverty. The defective sanitation 
usually found in such overpopulated districts adds to the 


x, POVERTY : ITS CAUSES AND REMEDIES 447 


general evil effect. Overcrowding breaks down the ordinary 
decencies of life, demoralizes the family life, induces vice, under- 
mines the health, and destroys hope. When the overcrowding 
becomes as great as in some of the great cities, like London and 
New York, land values go up, and the type of house changes 
from the small, inexpensive cottage to the large costly tenement. 
Consequently the man of small means finds it impossible to 

‘town his own home. “In all of Greater New York City in 1910 
only 11.7 per cent of the homes were owned by those who 
occupied them, while in the borough of Manhattan only 2.9 per 
cent were owned by the occupants.! He lacks that fine incentive 
to save in order to pay for a home — a tangible thing appealing 
to some of the most fundamental feelings. Much is being done 
in recent years to build good homes and tenements for the 
people. Rapid transit systems with cheap fares, allowing 
people to live at a distance from the crowded centers of business 
and manufacture, and the distribution of manufacturing plants 
away from the crowded centers of population yet near enough 
to enable them to command a sufficient supply of labor and to 
secure the requisite shipping facilities will do much to prevent 
the overcrowding now so frequent in our great cities. The large 
tenements were built to enable men to rent cheap dwelling places 
and yet get an adequate return upon their investments. They 
have failed, however, in that they provide barracks instead of 
homes. 

Even more important in producing poverty are the evil asso- 
ciations provided for children and adults. Not only do “ evil 
communications corrupt good manners,”’ but they sow the seeds 
of inefficiency by promoting bad habits and false ideals. The 
most debasing influence of the saloon is perhaps not the alcoholic 
liquors sold there, but the conversation, the contact with loafers, 
criminals, and degenerates who find there their refuge. Combine 
such associations with the influence of alcohol and you have a 
potent engine for the debasement of manhood, for the promotion 
of false ideals of home and family life, and for the production of 
industrial inefficiency. 

Almost as bad is the lack of measures and methods for the 
fruitful, constructive employment of people’s leisure time in 
recreation of an uplifting nature. Must men and children be 

1 Thirteenth Census of the United States, 1910, Vol. I, p. 1313. 


448 OUTLINES OF SOCIOLOGY 


worn down towards inefficiency and poverty even in their 
pleasures? Yet, until recently there was no thought given to 
the production of agencies for rendering men more efficient 
through their recreation. 

The playground provisions of some of our large cities are doing 
much to take away the curse of depraving influences from 
people’s leisure time. Much yet remains to be done, how- 
ever.1. Along with their further development both in extent 
and in provision for the adults, there must go repressive or regu- 
lative measures for the saloons, bad dance halls, amusement 
parks, vicious theaters and moving picture shows. Along 
with these measures must go the development of the social 
centers. 

Defective Government. — Legislation in favor of one individ- 
ual or class may be to the detriment of other individuals or 
classes and may lead indirectly to poverty. In many instances 
we find defects in the judicial machinery, having a tendency to 
render injustice to very many people, and causing them to lose 
their position in the industrial and social life. Again, improper 
and unjust penalties sometimes are imposed which in them- 
selves are detrimental to the progress of the individual. Legis- 
lation and its interpretation by the courts may be a very efficient 
means for the advancement of the material interests of society, 
by removing conditions which lead to poverty, and by develop- 
ing conditions of industry and thrift. It may also shape the 
economic development of a nation in a measure and influence 
the wealth-creating power of individuals or groups. 

The remedy for bad legislation is said to be better legislation. 
“Aye, but there’s the rub.” What constitutes better legisla- 
tion? What shall be the test? And how shall we get it? 

Whatever else better legislation may secure, it will provide 
less for special interests and more for the interests of all the 
people. It will, indeed, not overlook the material development 
of society, but it will see that in that development the interests 
of the public are not forgotten or bartered away forever for a 
song. On the other hand, it will not forget that ‘‘ man does not 
live by bread alone”; it will keep constantly in mind those 
large interests which we include sometimes under the general 


1Mallery, “The Social Significance of Play,” Annals of the American Academy 
of Political and Social Science, Vol. 25, pp. 368-373. 


POVERTY: ITS CAUSES AND REMEDIES 449 


term ‘‘ the social welfare ’’ — education, recreation, and ‘“‘ the 
pursuit of happiness.” 

We shall not get such legislation by the present practice of 
political jobbery and the prevailing haphazard methods, — 
political products of an imperfectly socialized group mind. 
Growing out of an extreme individualism in political theory the 
present system of lawmaking with its ever present log-rolling 
is based upon the social theory that as each lawmaker represent- 
ing the interests of his part of the state strives to secure the 
enactment of laws favorable to his community, each part of 
the state will secure the legislation which is best for it and so 
the interests of the whole state will best be served. To a degree 
the theory is true. The theory is, however, false in that it 
assumes that there are no general state interests which may con- 
flict in a measure with the interests of certain communities, and 
yet are vital to the welfare of the state. Before general state 
interests can predominate over local interests there must arise 
a state consciousness as opposed to a merely local consciousness, 
and the welfare of the state as a whole must sit at the center of 
attention in the lawmaker’s mind. A wider dissemination of 
information as to the interests of the state as a whole will gener- 
ate a state consciousness. ‘The political theorists have suggested 
certain measures which will help to secure better laws, such as 
having fewer legislators, fewer bills introduced, and more 
mature consideration given to each one. The second of these 
we are beginning to secure in a clumsy fashion by a provision 
that no new bills may be introduced after a certain day of the 
session has been reached. The first has yet to win its way to an 
established position in political theory. The last named can 
be secured in part by securing the first two, by a lengthening 
of the session if necessary, but best by the establishment of a 
legislative reference library with a staff of experts to make a 
comparative study of legislation in other states and in foreign 
countries so that the administrative experience of previous ex- 
periments may be available on which a sane judgment concerning 
any proposed measure may be based, and with other experts to 
draft bills, so that less of the business of our supreme courts 
will be to throw on the junk heap of unconstitutionality much 
of the legislation passed at each session of the lawmaking 
body. 


2G 


450 OUTLINES OF SOCIOLOGY 


Misdirected and Inadequate Education. — Education to be 
of the greatest service should have reference to the conditions 
of life of those to be educated and their prospective future. All 
education should aim, among other things, to train the individ- 
ual for self-support. It is not intended here to suggest that all 
education be made up entirely of the so-called vocational sub- 
jects and simply prepare for the commercial and industrial life, 
but the industrial element should be made universal in all educa- 
tion, for the first business of a good citizen is to be a producer 
and thereby a bread-earner. Until recently a boy could not get 
an education in a trade at public expense unless he committed 
a crime and was sent to the industrial school or the reformatory. 
While the sociologist would be the last to exalt the making of a 
living over the making of a life, he believes that the making of a 
decent living for himself and family is the sine qua non of mak- 
ing a life which is worthy of the name. Happily, a beginning 
towards supplying this lack in our school system has been made. 
Much, however, remains to be done to make education do 
its full share in the prevention of poverty. 

Furthermore, how many of our paupers are such because they 
have some physical defect which might have been corrected had 
it been discovered in time! Recent studies have shown that 
some children who fail in school are suffering from poor eyes, 
poor nutrition due to bad teeth, deafness due to adenoids and 
enlarged tonsils, and other physical defects easily corrected. 
Other investigations indicate that there are more.of the retarded 
and dull pupils who are mentally defective than we ever sus- 
pected. While these cannot have the defect removed, they can 
be discovered, and special educational treatment given them in 
special classes, or in special institutions, and they can be segre- 
gated so as not to entail their defect upon the next generation. 
Medical inspection in the schools, though only quite recently 
introduced in the United States, in contrast with its long es- 
tablishment in some of the countries of Europe, has spread widely 
and is doing much to teach us some of the causes of the failure of 
the schools to prepare pupils for life. Tragic in its significance is 
the fact brought out by some recent studies of the occupations 
chosen by pupils who left school at the end of the compulsory 
school age to earn a living. Large numbers were found in 

1 Gulick and Ayres, Medical Inspection of Schools, Chap. XII. 


POVERTY: ITS CAUSES AND REMEDIES 451 


“blind alley occupations”? — messenger, bell boy, cash girl, 
clerk and common laborer — in which they were earning their 
maximum at twenty years of age. From that time they slowly 
gravitated down toward dependency. Vocational guidance in 
the schools, based upon a close study both of the youth’s apti- 
tudes and upon the prospects in the various trades and vocations, 
has been proposed to correct this defect of our educational 
system. Certainly every youth, ignorant often of his own ca- 
pacities and generally quite unacquainted with the comparative 
opportunities offered by the various vocations, has the right 
to expect some one in this great society of which he is a part, 
to givé him counsel on these vital questions. He has a right to 
know something of the nature and promise of different occupa- 
tions for his own sake. Society owes it to herself to give him 
that guidance. In many places it is being done with con- 
siderable show of success.1 Coupled with this defect is the 
frequency of inadequate education. Children are allowed to 
be out of school, either at work or in idleness, when they should 
be preparing more thoroughly for the work of life. Many of 
these pupils could have accomplished much more and become 
industrially independent, had longer training been given them. 
Stricter compulsory education laws, courses better adapted to 
their needs, and continuation schools, will do something to aid 
in correcting these defects of the educational system.? 

Bad Industrial and Economic Conditions. — Frequently a 
community has such bad industrial conditions that they are 
conducive to the wealth of a few and the poverty of many. 
When the control of the sources of wealth falls into the hands 
of comparatively few people, there are indications that a cer- 
tain number of individuals will fail to have sufficient income for 
their support. Moreover, there are various changes that occur 
through the shifting of economic society, either through what 
might be called natural or arbitrary social causes, which induce 
conditions of poverty. Among these might be named the varia- 
tions in the value of money; trade depressions, like those of 
1870, 1893, and 1907; changes in trade and industry, brought 

1 Bloomfield, Vocational Guidance. 

2 Miles, H. E., Industrial Education, No. 3, Bulletin of the Wisconsin State Board 
of Industrial Education. 


Reber, Louis E., Industrial and Continuation Schools, No. 5, Bulletin of the Wis- 
consin State Board of Industrial Education. . 


452 OUTLINES OF SOCIOLOGY 


about by improved machinery, such as occurred in England fol- 
lowing the industrial revolution; the shifting of industry 
caused by invention and discovery, an example of the former 
being supplied by the displacement of hand-weavers by machines 
after the invention of the power loom, and of the latter by the 
impoverishment of the New England farmers upon the opening 
up of the rich farming lands of the Mississippi Valley ; excessive 
or ill-managed taxation, as in the pre-Revolutionary days in 
France; the undue power of class over class, well illustrated by 
the supremacy of the aristocracy in Russia, and of the “ coal 
barons ” in the United States; and the immobility of labor, 
much more noticeable in former times than now and in a coun- 
try like Russia than in the United States. Enforced idleness 
of wage-earners is a potent cause of poverty and the most diffi- 
cult of all to overcome.! All of these have, at various times and 
in different degrees, influenced the social population, causing it 
to degenerate. 

Each of these conditions in varying degrees is amenable to 
correction. Variations in the value of money are not under 
absolute control, especially over long periods of time. If a new 
discovery of a basic metal like gold is made or if through war or 
some similar catastrophe an enormous waste of capital occurs, 
the value of money is bound to vary. With every increase in 
the amount of gold available the influence of new discoveries 
of the metal is diminished unless the demand for gold increases 
equally with the new supply discovered. On the other hand, 
any monetary device which makes gold less necessary as a base, 
unless the base is thereby made less stable, would tend to make 
less likely fluctuations in its value due to this cause. The 
abolition of war by arbitration and international conciliation 
would remove a very important agency of waste, and would 
therefore make the value of gold more stable. 

Commercial crises, economists tell us, are the result some- 
times of an over-extended credit, often of an unsound money 
system, sometimes of an interruption of the ordinary channels of 
trade by war, or the fear of war. Anything which disturbs the or- 
dinary course of national or international commerce when indus- 
trial conditions are strained helps to precipitate a panic. Meas- 
ures, therefore, which prevent frequent and profound changes 


1See Hunter, Poverty, pp. 318-340; Devine, Principles of Relief, p. 151. 


POVERTY: ITS CAUSES AND REMEDIES 453 


of commercial policy within a nation, and between nations, make 
less likely the crises which ruin people and press most heavily 
upon the poor. If the time ever comes when war and the fear 
of it no longer paralyze business and turn the laborers in shop 
and on farm into destroyers of life and property, one of the 
important causes of poverty will be removed. 

There seems no way at present to obviate entirely the often 
terrible cost of progress incident to the introduction of new 
machinery and methods, which often means the displacement of 
workers by a machine and their consequent poverty because they 
find themselves unable to adapt themselves to a new occupa- 
tion. A more general education in youth, thus making the 
individual more adjustable to changed conditions, has been sug- 
gested as a measure that would help solve the problem. The 
present tendency, however, is towards making the worker merely 
a cog in a machine and therefore the less able to adjust himself 
to a new situation. Sometimes the workers have organized 
and resisted the introduction of labor-saving machinery, but 
that meatis greater cost of the article to the consumer. 

A like situation exists relative to the hardships involved for 
some in inventions and discovery. Unless society is willing to 
sacrifice all progress inventions cannot be repressed. These 
must go on, for they mean ultimately better conditions for the 
greater number. ‘This kind of poverty is a cost of progress which 
society must pay. Society can prevent, however, the burden 
falling entirely upon a single class. By means of a system of 
pensions and social insurance the cost could be spread out over 
the whole social group. 

By the ironing out of fluctuations in trade and industry, as 
suggested above, much of the enforced idleness of laborers would 
cease. A practical system of employment bureaus would take 
care of others. A system of insurance against unemployment, 
along lines similar to the systems existing in Germany and Eng- 
land, would help to distribute the burden over society more 
equitably. 

Thus, by such measures society is struggling with these 
socially caused maladjustments which involve the poverty of 
many. 

Unwise Philanthropy. — One of the greatest causes of pauper- 
ism is unwise philanthropy, for it induces people who are poor to 


454 OUTLINES OF SOCIOLOGY 


become dependent. As is stated in the next chapter, wise 
charity seeks to teach people to help themselves and to develop 
independence and thrift through material and spiritual aid. 
Much that is called charity is nothing more than almsgiving. 
An indulgence in a maudlin sentiment which destroys the spirit 
of independence and undermines self-help is antisocial. Scien- 
tific charity will relieve distress and teach people to help them- 
selves by making it impossible to become habitually dependent 
upon others. It will make every effort to prevent pauperism. 
It aims to take such measures as will enable people to remain 
independent, or, if dependent upon others for a time, to make 
that period as short as possible. Real charity does not try to 
relieve of their responsibility those upon whom the burden of 
support naturally falls. It endeavors to help the natural sup- 
porters, however, to carry their burdens as easily as possible. 
Modern charity believes that relatives rather than the state 
should support dependents, but it will do all it can to help 
those relatives to secure work by which they may do the task 
with honor and independence. Giving to a beggar on the street 
probably will confirm him in dependency; he will learn that a 
living may be obtained more easily that way than by labor. 
Giving to a family without knowing their circumstances may 
determine a career of pauperism for them. Investigation, care- 
ful records to enable others to whom such a family appeals to 
know their history and what is being done for them by others, 
and efforts at securing them an opportunity to earn an honest 
living are absolutely essential in our complex civilization in. our 
great cities where few people know their neighbors, would we 
give helpfully. Service as well as immediate material help is 
imperative. The world has been slow to recognize these prin- 
ciples, but at the present an increasing number of people are 
becoming aware of their existence and believe in their possi- 
bilities. 

To remedy the evils growing out of unwise philanthropy prin- 
ciples of scientific charity, — principles, while not final, because 
they are developing, which are based upon the experience of 
those who have dealt most extensively with these problems, — 
have been adopted. They have been most thoroughly worked 
out by what is called organized charities and certain German 


1 See Devine, Principles of Relief, pp. 185-266. 


POVERTY: ITS CAUSES AND REMEDIES 455 


municipal experiments in dealing with poverty to be described 
in the next chapter. These principles to succeed must be applied 
both by private and public relief officials and receive the enthu- 
siastic moral support of every private organization which gives 
relief and of every philanthropic individual. They must be 
worked into our public relief system, which for the most part 
to-day in America is actually medieval in its methods, — no 
investigation, scarcely any records worthy of the name, and little 
codperation with the private agencies which are trying to intro- 
duce constructive methods. Some of the experiments of foreign 
cities might well be tried here with certain modifications. The 
vagrant and those unwilling to work must be made to work. 
Combined with these measures must go the preventive social 
devices described in the preceding sections. We have only 
just begun to attack the problem of poverty. To some it seems 
hopeless, but to those who are in the closest touch with this 
grave problem and who know most about the failures of our 
best methods, but who also know that these modern methods 
have never had a fair chance, there is nothing but promise. It 
is they who talk of “‘ the cure of poverty.” 

Summary.— As the causes of poverty are numerous and 
varied in nature so attempts to prevent it must come from 
many sources. To sum up the matter, we may conclude that 
among other things are improvements in industrial conditions 
through the process of social evolution and governmental in- 
fluence, such as steadiness of employment at a fair remuneration, 
stability of industrial and financial conditions, justice in taxa- 
tion, government, and legislation. Again, improvement in 
modes of living, such as better housing, good home surroundings, 
improved sanitation, better care of the personal health, and 
profitable recreation and amusement. ‘The change in personal 
characteristics through education by developing thrift, energy, 
prudence, sound judgment, and the power to labor, is a means 
of the prevention of poverty. So likewise, the change in per- 
sonal habits, the disuse, or at least temperate use, of liquor, 
tobacco, narcotics, and the abolition of selfishness and the pro- 
motion of love in the home, with purity of life, all tend to 
develop the character of man and to remove him from a possible 
state of dependence. As sickness is one of the chief causes of 
poverty the removal of disease through science and legislation 


456 OUTLINES OF SOCIOLOGY 


are important measures of prevention. Add to the foregoing, 
scientific charity, which helps persons at the right time and in 
the right way, and poverty will gradually grow less as the years 
pass. 


REFERENCES 


Charities Review, Vol. II, p. 279; Vol. IV, p. 142; Vol. VII, 922. 

DEVINE, Ep. T. Principles of Relief. 

DvucpDALE, R. L. The Jukes. 

HENDERSON, C. R. Modern Methods of Charity. 

HUNTER, ROBERT. Poverty. 

RicumonpD, M. E. Friendly Visiting, pp. 140-165. 

Ris, JacoB. The Children of the Poor; The Battle with the Slum. 

Report of the Committee of Fifty on the Liquor Traffic. 

Warner, Amos G. American Charities, Revised Edition, 1908, Chaps. I- 
V, VII. 

WRIGHT, CARROLL D. Practical Sociology, pp. 324-343. 


QUESTIONS AND EXERCISES 


1. Make an estimate of the extent of poverty in your own community. 
(If a small place you can get the information by going to the town and 
county relief officers and from common report as to who has received help.) 

2. Make a list of the evil social consequences of poverty among families 
of which you know, e.g. how many boys never had a chance at a proper edu- 
cation, how many girls “went wrong” because of poverty, etc. 

3. Classify the poor families with which you are acquainted in your com- 
munity under as many of the heads in the chapter as you think are neces- 
sary to account for their poverty. 

4. What is your community doing to remedy or prevent poverty? (Make 
a definite list of the things.) 

5. What is your community not doing that it might do to cure and pre- 
vent poverty? we 

6. Suggest any other methods’ pf ‘meeting the poverty problem than those 
mentioned in the text. 


CHAPTER III, 
CHARITIES AND CHARITY ORGANIZATION . 


The Philosophy of Charity, — The common meaning of charity 
is the giving of alms to the poor or the help of the sick. What 
is popularly known as charity in modern times is called alms 
in the Scripture and in other ancient writings. What is called 
charity in the Scripture is merely love or a wide human sym- 
pathy. It may apply in its widest sense to all classes of people, 
whatever their condition, to whom sympathy and aid may be 
given. | In its more modern and scientific sense charity means 
the help of the poor, the weak, the sick and helpless. ) Charity 
organization signifies the means of administering relief by a 
coéperative method. Charity has become in modern times a 
social rather than a merely individual function as well as an 
individual matter, It has become chiefly a means of protect- 
ing society at large and of encouraging normal social health 
and growth. Society seeks to protect itself by caring for the 
weak in order to prevent social disease and degeneration. The 
normal healthy social structure is made stronger by warding off 
pauperism, by preventing insanity, epilepsy, imbecility, blind- 
ness, and deafness, as well as by caring for the afflicted. Cer- 
tain philosophers, Herbert Spencer among the number, have 
advocated the development of the strong by making them 
stronger and neglecting to care for the weak and decrepit. They 
hold strictly to the doctrine of the struggle for existence and the 
survival of the fittest. Hence, properly to enforce this prin- 
ciple of natural evolution, the efforts of humanity should be 
devoted to the improvement of the best of the stock, rather 
than to an attempt to uplift the defective, out of which 
nothing strong and normal can come. They go so far as to 
say that if the weak and diseased members of society were all 
left to perish, the strong would then perpetuate the race, and 
thus gradually the weak would be replaced by the strong. 

457 


458, OUTLINES OF SOCIOLOGY, 


This is a good evolutionary principle in the absence of a con- 
scious agency to supplement Nature’s selection. Nature’s chief 
method of securing a more perfect adjustment to existing con- 
ditions, so far as modern science has come to definite conclu- 
sions, is by the elimination of the ill-adapted. As soon, how- 
ever, as Intelligence appears upon the scene Nature’s slow 
methods are supplemented by conscious adaptation to natural 
conditions. Nature by eliminating the hairless animals pro- 
duced after millenniums long-haired animals to withstand the 
glacial cold. It is man, however, since the domestication of 
animals, who by the introduction of intelligence into the breed- 
ing process has, to put it from the standpoint of results rather 
than of method, bred the legs off and put hams on the hog, 
developed the race horse on the one hand and the draft horse 
on the other, brought forth the spineless cactus, produced the 
numberless varieties of various kinds of fruits and cereals. It 
is still done by elimination in part, but elimination has been 
supplemented and hastened by conscious selective breeding 
instead of by Nature’s tardy processes. What man has actually 
done to secure these results so speedily is to select those varieties 
for breeding which show the qualities he wishes and to prevent 
the propagation of the undesirable kinds. The slow and waste- 
ful method of Nature, therefore, should not be allowed to work 
out its results in humanity without some restrictions. Society 
is so closely organized and the relations of its members so inti- 
mate that the strong to protect themselves must be mindful of 
the weak. As well may the head say that it cares not if the 
hand is diseased so long as body, heart, and head remain, for 
indeed the disease may spread until head, heart and body are 
involved. Hence, if for no other reason than its own protec- 
tion, society must care for the weak and the defective. Also, 
because if society practiced utter selfishness, it would lose 
interest in humanity, and altruism, and even sympathy would 
decline and the human race be weakened on account of the loss 
of its best social qualities. Charity, then, when properly ad- 
ministered, may protect and help the weak, prevent the spread 
of weakness, and make the strong stronger by unselfish activity. 

Universality of Charity among Nations. 44 Charity or alms- 
giving is a very ancient practice, common to all nations after 
a more or less permanent social life was established. The 


CHARITIES AND CHARITY ORGANIZATION, 459. 


Hindu, Egyptian, Persian, Hebrew, and Chinese philosophers 
have all uttered lofty and humane sentiments in regard to the 
consideration of the poor, and means of relief are recognized in 
many of their laws. In Athens a poor tax was regularly levied 
and collected. Aristotle advocated the relief of the poor, not 
by a tax but by a more permanent method of distributing the 
land in small parcels among the needy, that they might become 
self-supporting. While most savage tribes care little for the 
poor or for the aged, the Aztecs of Mexico and the Incas of 
Peru made provision for these classes. The former taught that 
the poor should be helped and the latter provided homes for the 
care of orphans. The Jewish synagogue was a center for the 
distribution of alms and the Hebrew commonwealth had wise 
provisions for the care of the poor. As the synagogue at first 
was the meeting place of the Christians it continued to be a 
center for the distribution of alms, and its successor, the church, 
followed its example. It is noteworthy that one of the earliest 
officers to be appointed in the primitive Christian organizations 
was the “deacon” whose chief duty was to look after the poor 
in the church.! 

Many of the problems that confront us to-day in regard to 
the administration of the charities, troubled the ancient nations, 
although it must be admitted that, with all of the fine precepts 
of philosophers, real charity was sadly wanting, in most in- 
stances, when it came to the practice of genuine help to the 
needy. ‘The sayings of the wise in charity as well as in religion 
were far different from the doings of the people. And in the 
ancient nations, as in many modern, the practices of government 
and social order were such as to create the conditions of poverty 
more rapidly than they could be relieved, even under the best 
administration. 

The main defect of the ancient methods of charity was that 
the chief motive to almsgiving was personal interest. Through 
superstitious fear, men were urged to give, that they might 
thereby enjoy the favor of the gods. ‘‘ He that giveth to the 
poor lendeth to the Lord,” are the words of the Hebrew Sage. 
This sentiment was repeated a thousand times in the writings 
of the Fathers of the Christian Church. In fact, it remained 


1Harnack, Die Mission und Ausbreitung des Christenthums, translated as, The 
Expansion of Christianity, Vol. I, p. 194. 


460 OUTLINES OF SOCIOLOGY 


the chief motive down to very recent times and has not lost its 
power even to-day. The motive being egoistic did not create 
an earnest desire to help the poor, and led the people to careless 
and indiscriminate giving, thereby creating paupers and beggars. 
The poverty-stricken wretch of ancient society excited the pity 
of benevolently disposed people, but through the teachings of 
the church he became “‘ God’s pauper,” and giving to him opened 
to the giver the doorway to heaven. Temporary relief was 
usually the extent of the aid given, and no systematic efforts 
were made to give man a permanent help. Hence, no organi- 
zation was attempted. To give alms was to throw a piece of 
money to a beggar with the hope that he would soon be out of 
sight and out of mind. While this was one of the chief char- 
acteristics of ancient almsgiving, it has not entirely departed 
from modern charity. Many seem to give to relieve their con- 
sciences or to get rid of the importunate solicitor, with the vague 
hope that the person may be benefited. And by some, giving 
in the abstract is still considered a means of grace. 

Giving among the Romans.— As the Roman system was 
widespread at the time of the appearance of Christianity, it is 
necessary to refer briefly to the condition of affairs especially 
subsequent to the foundation of the Empire. The history of 
the separation of the people of the Republic into two classes, one 
made up of the nobility and the patricians representing all of 
the wealth and political power, and the other representing the 
plebeians, is too familiar to need repetition. As the former 
class possessed all of the wealth and controlled the means of 
wealth, the latter came to expect alms or support from the 
former. As the former maintained their power through political 
position, the latter paid for support by means of their votes. 
The mob finally became large and dangerous and difficult to 
manage; yet he who sought power in Rome must reckon with 
its demands, for there was no middle class to maintain the 
equipoise of social and political life. All labor had been degraded 
by the introduction of slavery until it was considered ignoble to 
engage in any pursuit except politics and the proprietorship of 
a landed estate. There was no other alternative than that one 
class should be supported by the other, and, hence, the poorer 
class expected gifts from the rich and powerful. 

After the establishment of the Empire these conditions be- 


CHARITIES AND CHARITY ORGANIZATION 461 


came greatly exaggerated. At the time of Augustus, it is esti- 
mated that 580,000 persons received relief in the city of Rome. 
The custom of the emperors, when elevated to the throne, to 
give large gifts to the people became general among all those who 
held political position. 

When it became known throughout the Empire that gifts of 
corn and wine were scattered freely many flocked to the City 
to be fed. While pauperism was not general through the prov- 
inces, Rome became overburdened with people seeking alms. 

To allow the poor to live, attempts were made to regulate the 
price of corn, and Caius Gracchus succeeded in making the price 
of a Roman bushel five asses, or less than the cost of production. 
This, of course, caused a falling off in the production and ship- 
ment of corn, and as a consequence corn was distributed gratis to 
the populace. Then followed a careless or indiscriminate distri- 
bution of corn, and later of oil and wine as well, which increased 
from year to year and reign to reign. To give some estimate 
of the extent of these gifts by politicians, demagogues, and public 
officials a few general statements will suffice. In 73 B.c. it is 
estimated that gifts amounting to $438,500 in value were dis- 
tributed; in 46 B.c. it had increased to $3,375,000; in Augustus 
Ceesar’s time 320,000 men received aid or grants of corn, and 
the number increased from this on. The annual distribution 
from Nero’s time to the end of Severus’s reign rose to a value of 
$1,500,000. This was, of course, done by the officials represent- 
ing the State. But this amount was greatly augmented by 
office seekers and demagogues who could keep their places at 
the public crib only by dividing the spoils with the mob. It 
is estimated that Nero, during his reign, disposed of food, etc. 
valued at $96,500,000 to the people and that Hadrian gave 
food, etc. valued at about $165 per capita to the people of Rome. 
It is difficult to ascertain the exact amounts, but even though 
these estimates are only approximate they give us some notion 
of the enormous expenditure. But this could not be called 
charity in its best sense, but rather a systematic method of 
developing pauperism. It established the right of the needy 
citizen to demand and receive help from the state. The Romans 
did something to provide protection to all people who resided 
within their territory, and especially those who were Roman 
citizens, but there was really little sympathy for people who 


462 OUTLINES OF SOCIOLOGY 


were in distress. Even in ancient Rome the exposure of infants 
who were deformed was advocated, and it was considered better 
that the aged should die and not prove a burden to the com- 
munity. 

Philanthropy was by no means unknown, however, among the 
Greeks and Romans. We must not permit Uhlhorn’s prejudiced 
position in his thorough but unfair work, Christian Charity in 
the Ancient Church, to blind our eyes to the fact that the people 
among whom Christianity entered as a ‘‘ gospel of love and 
charity,’’ as Harnack calls it, had cared for the poor from sym- 
pathy for them before charity was polluted by political motives. 
Human sympathy is not limited to Christianized peoples; it 
lies at the basis of all societies in every age, as we have seen. 
It was the mainspring of charity in Greece and Rome before it 
gave way to the passion for political domination in the period 
of the disintegration of the early, efficient social bonds. Doubt- 
less the contrast between the charity of the Greek and Roman 
cities of that day and that to be seen among the early Christians 
aflame with the passion of a new brotherhood and with a 
heightened sense of membership in a new and heavenly society 
was striking enough. The charity of the Christian Church, 
however, was fine enough not to need the factitious splendor of 
a false contrast.! 

Charity of the Christian Church. — The early Christian asso- 
ciations had for one of their cardinal points the care of the poor 
of their own membership. The teaching that all men were 
brethren made it necessary that brotherly love should abound. 
The Church found itself diametrically opposed to the Roman 
doctrine and system which it found in existence when it entered 
the Roman Empire. 

With a widely extended sympathy for all humanity the 
Church began its work of permanent help to the poor, the suffer- 
ing, and the downtrodden. Against the calculating political 
nature of the Roman politicians, it set forth the warm heart- 
love of fellowmen. Upon the downfall of the Roman Empire 
the Church soon absorbed all of the charitable work of the time. 

With the passing of time, however, and the Church’s succes- 
sion to the place of power occupied hitherto by the Empire, the 


1 Harnack, Die Mission und Ausbreitune des Christenthums, translated as, The 
Expansion of Christianity, Vol. I, Chap. III. 


CHARITIES AND CHARITY ORGANIZATION 463 


ethical motive was contaminated by the selfish motive of thus 
securing the favor of Heaven for the giver of alms, and thus 
forging one more chain with which to bind men to the Church. 
Instead of the old political motive of the Roman statesmen, 
the Church substituted the commercial motive of securing by 
almsgiving a treasury of grace. The foundations of such a 
doctrine are to be found, in truth, as early as the writings known 
as the Shepherd of Hermas and the Second Epistle of Clement. 
Cyprian, the bishop of Carthage, wrote that alms are the means 
by which we wash off any stains contracted subsequent to the 
cleansing of baptism.! Christianity in her conflict with bar- 
barism attempted to bring all men within her fold by appealing 
to motives already familiar to them, and did not scorn to appeal 
to such motives in order to secure gifts for the poor. 

This was a kind of giving which existed for the benefit of the 
giver alone. According to theory, all gifts to the poor were 
gifts to God, and those who furnished the gifts received their 
reward in heaven. Therefore, giving became a means of direct 
salvation to Christians, a part of their religion. This is a vicious 
principle, for when carried far enough it makes religion irreligious 
and charity uncharitable. When it comes to turning over lands 
and estates to be given to the poor, for the sole benefit of the 
giver, it results in a system of selfishness. Nor is that all, for 
it leads to corruption of the society which obtains funds on the 
pretense of insuring the salvation of souls in return for the loan. 

Yet, it must be added, the Church cared not only for members 
of its own little societies but also for those with whom it came 
in contact, especially after the establishment of monasteries. 
These it established throughout its realm, and they became 
asylums for the poor and oppressed. It built hospitals and pre- 
pared homes for the care of the poor, and preached to the whole 
world the lesson of charity and brotherly kindness, with a new 
earnestness born of the most powerful sanctions. 

Results of the Charity of the Church. — The power which 
the Church obtained through the decline of the Roman Empire 
came to her in part legitimately through well-rendered service. 
In part, the service rendered was for the selfish purpose of secur- 
ing adherents. Consequently with that power came the respon- 
sibility of caring for all of the subjects within the realm of the 


1 De opere et eleemosyniis, i, quoted by Harnack, op. cit., Vol. I., p. 191. 


464 | OUTLINES OF SOCIOLOGY 


Church’s authority. The result was a burden too great to be 
easily borne. 

On account of the indiscriminate giving on the part of the 
Church, which believed in treating all people alike, thousands 
took advantage of it and grew up in indolence and became veri- 
table paupers, willing to draw a large part of their living from 
public sources. So during the Middle Ages and at the begin- 
ning of the modern period, the results of the lavish hand of the 
Church began to appear in the thousands of all classes of every 
description who clung to ecclesiastical and lay associations and 
institutions for their own support. No one could censure the 
Church for indiscriminate giving, if he granted the premises 
upon which almsgiving was based. Moreover, there was no 
careful consideration of the effects of this indiscriminate charity. 
The need was great. There was no strongly organized govern- 
ment, and the Church was practically the only existing agency 
of help. When one considers the dense ignorance still prevail- 
ing concerning the true principles of charitable relief, he is 
prepared to deal leniently with the one institution of the Middle 
Ages which was attempting in any organized way to meet the 
needs of men. | 

Charity of the State.— When society became thoroughly 
feudalized, each person had his place and his support, such as 
it was, and there was little need of almsgiving. On the decay 
of this system of government the number of poor increased 
enormously and the burdens of the Church became so heavy as 
not to be borne without the assistance of the state. Gradually 
the nascent nations of Europe began to adopt measures of relief. 
First to do so on a large scale was England. 

At first laws were passed for the regulation of labor with the 
object of keeping the laborer in the state of servitude which the 
feudal system had created. Among these laws passed during 
the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries was one whose object 
was to repress vagrancy. (12 Richard II.) When Henry VIII 
dissolved the monasteries, vagrancy increased and laws were 
enacted intended to diminish it. Subsequently vagrancy laws 
were made more severe (Ed. VI) and provision was made to 
raise funds for the poor by appointing collectors in each parish. 
The Church was still the dispenser of charity. It was not until 
Elizabeth’s reign, however, that the state took a vigorous interest 


CHARITIES AND CHARITY ORGANIZATION 465 


in charity and that the power of administering it was shifted 
from the ecclesiastical to the civil authorities. A series of laws 
was passed which finally culminated in the statute of 1601 (43 
_ Elizabeth), known as the foundation of the English Poor Law. 
Laws followed, from time to time, which modified and improved 
this act until a complete state system of poor relief was estab- 
lished. These laws in many respects were salutary but their 
unwise administration had a tendency to increase pauperism 
and consequently enlarge the expenditures for its relief. In 
the care of the poor the state had reached the conclusion that 
all of the needy poor should receive help and as nearly all 
laborers were needy the conclusion was inevitable that they 
should receive aid. Expenditures increased, until in 1783 the 
amount for poor relief was, according to Fowle,! £2,004,238; in 
1803 it had increased to £4,267,965, and in 1818 it reached its 
high tide in the sum of £7,870,801, the population at this time 
being only 11,000,000. 

In 1834 the Poor Law was revised and the administration was 
reformed. Subsequent acts have continued to modify and im- 
prove it. The nation still suffers from the evils of a previous 
short-sighted policy. Although it possesses the most elaborate 
state poor relief system in existence, no nation has greater 
burdens to bear from pauperism. 

Hamburg-Elberfeld System. — In striking contrast with the 
comparative failure especially of outrelief in England is an 
experiment first tried in a Prussian city. About 1765 there 
arose in Hamburg a new method of dealing with paupers and 
poverty-stricken people. During the middle of the eighteenth 
century and toward its close the number of helpless and wretched 
people had increased greatly throughout Europe. A movement 
for the assistance of these people arose. A general wave of 
benevolence and charity spread over Europe. While it caused 
the relief of the helpless, it was so lacking in intelligence and 
system as to be a detriment rather than a help to society. Ham- 
burg was a rich city, having been engaged in trade with the 
East and West for many years. It was cosmopolitan in nature 
and attracted thousands to the city, either for work or for a 
living without work. The streets were lined with beggars, 
thousands of people receiving help from all sources. Finally, a 
; y 1Th~ Foor Law, p. 73. 
2H 


466 OUTLINES OF SOCIOLOGY 


society was organized in Hamburg among the citizens, whose 
chief aim was to promote a better system of government. To 
this society a certain Professor Biisch presented a novel plan 
for the care of the poor, which was finally put into operation. 
He organized a central bureau, and divided the city into districts, 
appointing an overseer in each district. The helpless were taught 
to help themselves, work being supplied where they could not 
find it; people were forbidden to give alms at the door; an 
industrial school was provided for the children; hospitals for 
the sick; and in fact a general system was established for the 
care of every one according to his needs anddeserts. It worked 
a complete revolution in Hamburg. It drove out the paupers 
or put them to work. It relieved the distress of children and 
educated them to industry and self-support. It cared for the 
sick, and repressed begging on the streets. The transformation 
was quite complete. Thirteen successful years were followed by 
a decline for a time.! The system was revived, however, and the 
idea spread to Elberfeld, a small German town, which applied 
the system with some modifications in 1852 so that the Elber- 
feld system, so well known among charitable workers, was in 
reality the original Hamburg system slightly improved. 

A summary of the Elberfeld system here may be of service. 
The city is divided into 564 sections. Within the confines of 
each section are included about 300 people, but with not more 
than four paupers in any one section. Over each of these sec- 
tions is placed an almoner, as he is called. The almoner is the 
official with whom each needy person comes into first-hand con- 
tact. To him the needy of that section make application for 
help. He then inquires carefully into all the circumstances of 
the case. If convinced that the family needs relief he gives it 
himself. He must, however, keep in close touch with the family 
by a visit at least once in two weeks. He gives relief according 
to a minimum standard set down by law. Any income the 
family may have is deducted from this minimum so as to make 
sure that itis not getting more than enough to supply the bare 
necessities of life. He not only supplies relief, but also is sup- 
posed to keep a general oversight over his district and act as 
adviser to any whose circumstances may indicate the possibility 
of falling into dependence. He helps secure employment for 


1 For details and causes see Henderson, m'odern Methods of Charity, pp. 9-12. 


CHARITIES AND CHARITY ORGANIZATION 467 


the unemployed, medical help for the sick, and offers advice to 
the improvident and dissipated, or in case of the incorrigible, 
reports them for prosecution. He loans sewing machines and 
tools belonging to the municipality to those who may thus be 
kept from want. These almoners are appointed for three years 
and service is compulsory, on pain of loss of the franchise from 
three to six years and an increased rate of taxation. The 
best citizens are thus secured for this work. . They serve for 
a long term of years, being reappointed again and again, so- 
ciety thus securing experienced men. For example, among 600 
almoners recently appointed one had served 49 years, 19 over 
30 years, 81 over 20 years, and 268 over 10 years. The office 
is considered such an honor that it is frequently sought by 
the best citizens, being considered the first step on the ladder 
to political office in the municipality. These almoners are usu- 
ally unpaid, although in some places where the system is in use, 
some of the officers are paid. : 

Fourteen of these sections are organized into a district over 
which is an overseer whose business it is to preside at the fort- 
nightly meetings of the almoners, where the reports of all these 
almoners are considered and a minute book prepared for the 
Central Committee of nine which is over the whole system in 
the city. This committee meets fortnightly also but on the 
night following the meeting of the district meetings. Indoor 
relief also is controlled by this Central Committee, the overseers 
and almoners having no connection with that. In many places 
both men and women serve as almonefs. These almoners are 
chosen from all classes of the population, not from the upper 
class alone. 

In every city where the system‘is in existence a large army 
of men and women of at least average intelligence are interested 
in the problem of poverty, not after dilettante fashion, but by 
first-hand acquaintance. 

Efficient service is secured because it is personal and intimate. 
With no more than four cases to look after it is possible to show 
true neighborliness. 

Constructive philanthropy is possible not only because the 
system supplies personal treatment for those who already have 
fallen into poverty, but because it makes the almoner an 
instrument of prevention. He is a father to the fatherless, 


468 OUTLINES OF SOCIOLOGY 


an adviser to the foolish, and serves as the connecting link 
between the inefficient individual and society which so often 
is only a lifeless abstraction or a heartless automaton to the 
poor. 

The value of the system, however, is indicated in these figures : 
In spite of the fact that the population of Elberfeld increased 
from fifty thousand in 1852 to one hundred sixty-two thousand 
in 1904, the number of those receiving either temporary or per- 
manent help increased from 4000 to only 7,689, or a decrease 
from 8 per cent of the population to 4.7 per cent. The cost of 
relief per capita of population in 1852 was 89 cents; in 1904 it 
was 88 cents including expense of supporting the almshouse, 
orphanage, and kindred institutions. 

It may be added incidentally that the system as administered 
in most of the cities of Europe at present has some defects. 
The almoners, although not trained for the work, make their 
own investigations. It is quite likely that it is not done as 
well or as tenderly as the trained worker would do it. They 
give relief themselves, — a practice which organized charity on 
the basis of long experience elsewhere condemns. The Elber- 
feld system will not work even in Germany without the aid of 
carefully devised poor laws. As Mr. Almy has remarked, how- 
ever, these defects are not inherent in the system, and could 
easily be remedied. Certainly the results in lessened poverty 
justifies the hope that its essential features may, perhaps in 
modified form, be introduced into this country.! 

That the Elberfeld system is not adapted without some change 
to cities of all sizes and conditions is shown by the experience of 
Hamburg. As the relief system was originally organized at 
Hamburg there were a number of defects which account for its 
failure. ‘The number of cases looked after by one almoner was 
from twenty to as many as eighty; the duty of the almoner 
was consequently limited to receiving applications for relief and 
more or less careless granting of aid at first without frequent 
enough reinvestigation; and the records and materials bearing 
upon the cases and their administration were not collected in 
one central office. In 1892 a reorganization was begun. An 


1 New Encyclopedia of Social Reform, p. 438; Almy, “The Use of Volunteers 
by Public Aid Officials,” in Proceedings of the National Conference of Charities and 
Correction, 1904, Pp. 113-134. 


CHARITIES AND CHARITY ORGANIZATION 469 


expert was employed to assist in the reorganization of the system. 
As a result of this reorganization requirements were adopted 
making the visitors more independent of the central office than 
before, and making the districts not only independent but also 
giving them such rights as the nomination of superintendents 
of districts and of new helpers, and considerable power to vote 
aid. Hamburg dropped the small district system of the Elber- 
feld system because it had been found in Hamburg that with its 
rapidly shifting population some districts would soon come to 
have no needy and others would have many. Hence, the new 
Hamburg system also did away with committing a given needy 
person to one almoner. A district is laid out with a superin- 
tendent at its head. He selects his helpers in number according 
to the need of the district. He receives the applications for 
aid. He assigns the cases to the person who he thinks will 
best fit that particular case. That case may be left in the 
hands of this person or after some trial it may be given to another 
better fitted to deal with it. This plan also enables him to give 
to the man of leisure more cases than he gives to the busy man, 
and to adapt the helpers to the particular case in hand. This 
system differs also from the Elberfeld system in granting relief 
for a longer period. In the Elberfeld system relief is granted 
for only two weeks. In the new Hamburg system the depend- 
ents are divided into classes, one of these containing the aged 
and the sick and such others as are in a condition not likely to 
change soon may be granted an allowance for six months, all 
others for not more than a month, until the next session of the 
council. The new Hamburg system has another feature not 
found in the Elberfeld system, a body composed of the super- 
intendents of the districts and called a Kreis, or circuit. These 
constitute an appeal board to hear appeals from the districts, to 
discuss matters of concern to all the districts in their circuit, 
and to consider and care for cases which need institutional care. 
The chairmen of these circuits are members of the central 
board. The central board has much the same duties as the 
Central Committee of the Elberfeld system. It is the court of 
final appeal, conducts investigations into conditions in the city 
bearing upon poverty, makes general rules and regulations under 
which the various poor officers operate, and decides the larger 
and more general policies. It has as its clerical agency a busi- 


470 OUTLINES OF SOCIOLOGY 


ness management. Through this central agency all applications 
for relief must pass. 

The system has worked remarkably well in Hamburg and has 
been adopted with success in a number of the larger cities of 
Germany.! 

The Indiana System. — While space will not permit a full 
description of the system of poor relief which has done so much 
to make that state a leader in the administration of poor relief, 
especially out-door relief, in the United States, a brief outline 
will serve the purpose, perhaps, of indicating what can be done 
with a carefully devised plan of administration based upon the 
old discredited system of county and township relief. 

The jail, poorhouse, county hospital, and children’s home are 
the institutions under the control of the county authorities in 
Indiana. In addition to the board of county commissioners who 
in most states have sole charge of these county institutions, the 
legislature in 1899 provided for the appointment by the circuit 
court judge of six persons to act as a board of county charities. 
The appointment is mandatory on petition of fifteen reputable 
citizens of the county. They are required to visit each of the 
charitable and correctional institutions in the county receiving 
public monies, and to report their findings to the county com- 
missioners at least quarterly and to the circuit judge annually. 
Copies of their reports are to be furnished the newspapers and 
the Board of State Charities. As a result of these provisions 
and the excellent supervision given the poorhouses by the 
Board of State Charities, the poorhouses of that State have 
been made more nearly into what they should be, — homes for 
the aged and respectable poor, instead of dumping grounds for 
the refuse of humanity. The following table tells its own 
story on this point: 


1891 1909 
Inmates under 16 yearsofage ,... . 13.3% 1.2% 
Tinrates 16 and under ous, eo. ss 52.7. ae 
IimatesGo' and OVErry ep eigt i et ere es 34.0 51.0 


The Indiana plan of managing township charities has been 
even more striking because out-door relief is included. Under 


1¥For this summary we are indebted to the splendid outline of the system given 
by Professor Henderson in his Modern Methods of Charity. 


CHARITIES AND CHARITY ORGANIZATION 471 


the old system of unsupervised relief the township trustees in 
1895 were spending annually $630,168.79 without any record 
being kept to show who were helped and for what reason. In 
that year a law was enacted at the suggestion of the Board of 
State Charities which revolutionized matters. The trustees as 
overseers of the poor were required by that law to file with the 
respective boards of county commissioners reports which must 
contain certain information concerning every family and _ per- 
son aided, a duplicate of which report was to be sent to the Board 
of State Charities. That provided supervision not only by 
the county commissioners, but also by a state body. Two years 
later a law was passed requiring the trustees to levy a tax against 
the township to cover the cost of poor relief granted to persons 
in that township. This supplied the other element lacking in 
the previous law, that of putting upon the people where the 
poor were the burden of their relief instead of paying the cost 
out of the general funds of the county. Each trustee was now 
responsible directly to his constituents for whatever expenditure 
was made. Two years later a law applying the principles of 
organized charity to the relief of the poor was passed and put 
the final element needed into the laws governing out-door relief 
for a whole state. Thus are provided supervision by a state 
board, local financial responsibility, and the application of the 
principles of scientific charity to the relief system of a state. 
This system also affords an opportunity to the State Board to 
study the whole problem of poverty in that state and get at the 
real causes of poverty. 

The results of this system are shown by the fact that while 
in 1897 one out of every thirty-one of the inhabitants of the 
state were receiving public relief, ten years later only one out 
of seventy-one were receiving such relief, although the amount 
given each person had risen from $4.72 to $5.13. In 1897 there 
were thirty-eight counties in the state in which one out of every 
thirty or less inhabitants was receiving aid, while ten years 
later there was not a county where so many of the inhabitants 
were being aided at public expense. Furthermore, the expense 
of public relief had fallen from $388,343.67 in 1897 to $279,967.31 
in 1907; thus fewer persons were receiving relief, but those 


1 The Development of Public Charities and Correction in the State of Indiana, 
1792-1910, 1910, Board of State Charities, Indianapolis, pp, 118-127, 


472 OUTLINES OF SOCIOLOGY 


who were receiving it were getting more adequate relief. This 
example of a state which by a few very simple changes in 
her public relief system made it really efficient shows what can 
be done if brains and perseverance are applied to the problem 
here in the United States. 

The Rise of the Charity Organization Movement. — The 
reform of public charities after the methods of the Hamburg- 
Elberfeld often modified in some respects to meet local condi- 
tions, extended to many of the principal cities of Europe. 
Paris, Vienna, and Berlin inaugurated systems of charity or- 
ganization, which had for their purpose the systematic help- 
ing of the poor, and the repression of pauperism. The influence 
of all this work for the reformation of public outdoor relief was 
felt everywhere, its results were made known and began to 
show results in private relief work. This influence began to 
tell on the ideals prevailing in non-public relief associations both 
on the Continent and in England about the middle of the nine- 
teenth century. About this time the charities of London were 
very imperfect and inadequate. A large number of societies 
existed having no particular coérdination or codperation. They 
were relief societies pure and simple. However, in 1869, the 
Charity Organization Sgciety of London was formed. It had 
for its purposes the harmonious coéperation with each other 
and with the poor law authorities, of the various charitable 
agencies in the district, the checking of the evil of overlapping 
relief, the repression of mendicity, the furnishing of help to 
the needy, and the repression and prevention of pauperism by 
thorough investigation and by means of self-help. 

Charity Organization in the United States. — It was not until 
the year 1877 that the Buffalo Society of Charity Organization 
was established, and it was the forerunner of all such movements 
in American cities. It was based upon that modified form of 
Hamburg-Elberfeld system which had been adopted in Lon- 
don and elsewhere. Its principles, as announced, were to re- 
duce vagrancy and pauperism and ascertain their true causes; 
to prevent indiscriminate and duplicate giving; to secure the 
community from imposture; to see that all deserving cases of 
destitution were relieved; to make employment the basis of 
relief; to elevate the home life, health, and habits of the poor; 
and to prevent children growing up as paupers. 


CHARITIES AND CHARITY ORGANIZATION 473 


The means employed to bring about these results were co- 
operation of charitable agencies; thorough investigation 
of all applicants and all conditions of poverty; a careful regis- 
tration of all those asking for help; and giving the kind of help 
that suited the exact need of each individual. The society also 
advocated the study of poverty and pauperism in order to 
better understand the causes. In this way they hoped to im- 
prove the condition of the poor and to reduce almsgiving 
to a system of scientific charity. 

The Indorsement of Charities.— The organization of 
societies giving relief into an association whereby overlapping 
of relief could be eliminated and coédperation between the vari- 
ous relief agencies secured aimed to cure one kind of ills besetting 
the philanthropic impulse. There is another sort of malady, 
however, which that movement does not as yet touch. There 
may be three or there may be a thousand relief agencies asso- 
ciated in an associated charities’ organization. The associated 
charities, except in a few instances, has not been in a position 
to say that another relief agency is not needed and therefore 
may not enter the field and appeal to the public for support. 
As a consequence of the multiplication of relief agencies in re- 
sponse to the great growth of the desire to relieve the suffering 
to be seen in the midst of our plenty, and in response to the 
opportunity provided by the philanthropic sentiment to thus 
graft upon the public, there has been an enormous develop- 
ment of institutions and organizations appealing to the public 
for support. So great has this tendency become, and in some 
places so numerous the organizations appealing for support, 
that it is impossible for the busy business man to discriminate 
between the claims of the various organizations appealing to 
him for help. With a willingness to help any real need and 
a desire to spend his money only where it will do the most good > 
and not contribute to the development of institutions which 
are unnecessary, he has been tossed about in his mind as to. 
what he should do. The commercial organizations of the larger 
cities finally took hold of the problem and decided that they 
would look into the various organizations to which the business 
men were asked to contribute and have a special force organized 
in their office to investigate each organization. Each member 
of the commercial body was then invited to codperate with the 


474 OUTLINES OF SOCIOLOGY 


commercial organization in this work by placing in his place 
of business a card stating that those in that business house 
or office were members of the board of commerce, or whatever 
the body was called, and that they would contribute to no or- 
ganization which did not have the indorsement of that organiza- 
tion. At the same time that this was done publicity was given to 
the fact that a special committee to investigate the claims of 
philanthropic institutions had been organized, and the various 
charitable organizations were asked to submit to the commercial 
body information ‘on certain points which would show their 
methods of financial\management, the field they covered, and 
a number of other matters bearing upon the usefulness of the 
organization in the community. In this way these organiza- 
tions are carefully examined by the commercial body and the 
contributing public has the advantage of whatever skill that 
body commands in investigating the merits of the various 
philanthropic organizations. ‘This method is intended to catch 
the useless organizations and the imposters. It also serves to 
prevent the organization of societies which would duplicate the 
work of others already in existence. In Cleveland, where the 
movement originated, it has gone so far as to enlist the com- 
mercial organization with the philanthropic societies in an en- 
deavor to gather the money necessary to carry on the work of 
these societies which are indorsed and divide it among them 
on the basis of what they spent the year previous, or some 
such basis as may seem equitable to the board. 

The results of charities’ indorsement have been fully up to 
expectations in cutting down the number of institutions receiv- 
ing their support from the public. It has also given an im- 
petus to the movement to have institutions carry on their 
work with more care for the financial methods employed, and 
for the results obtained. They know that they will be judged 
by results and that if these results do not commend themselves 
to the investigating committee, their support will be cut off 
by the refusal of this body to indorse their work. The campaign 
for funds in the Cleveland plan is centered in a week and each 
giver knows that when he has given once he will not be asked 
for gifts by other organizations. The result_has been a great 
increase in the amount given by each man and therefore a 
greater amount to be used by the institutions approved. 


CHARITIES AND CHARITY ORGANIZATION 475 


The system of indorsement has not received the unanimous 
approval, however, of social workers and students of the ques- 
tion. There has been a fear expressed that the investigating 
committee may not be intelligent enough to correctly judge 
of the real merits of an organization. They are usually business 
men, it is claimed, who are not familiar with the needs of the 
people along philanthropic lines and therefore are likely to 
think that an organization is unnecessary when it is really 
needed. There was also a fear expressed by some that this 
system would mean the control of charities by big business. 
The debate is not yet settled, but wherever the plan has been 
tried apparently it has worked well. In New York City, where 
there is a strong charity organization society, that organization 
does this investigating and indorsing. This plan in most 
places where the associated charities’ movement is less well 
established in the confidence of the people would probably 
not work, inasmuch as the various relief societies would object 
to investigation and indorsement by an association which is 
supposed to codrdinate the various relief agencies in the task 
of succoring the needy of the community. It is probable that 
those cities which have strong commercial bodies and have 
not a very strong associated charities will use the former method, 
and those which have their charities organized well and are 
strongly intrenched in the confidence of the people will manage 
it as New York does. It is certain that the time has come when 
the waste of effort due to institutions which duplicate efforts 
in a field already well occupied and leave untouched other 
fields suffering from the lack of help will be stopped. Some 
agency must have oversight over the whole field of philanthropic 
endeavor and direct the efforts of the community to meet its 
needs systematically, cultivating each part thereof according 
to the needs of each. 

Principles of Scientific Out Relief. — Out of the confusion 
of indiscriminate giving and haphazard methods of adminis- 
tering charities, which have sometimes tended to increase rather 
than to decrease dependency, there have evolved a few funda- 


1 Baldwin, ‘‘ Committee Report on the Relation of Commercial Organizations to 
Social Welfare,” Proceedings, National Conference of Charities and Correction, 1913, 
p. 73; Williams, “‘A Chamber of Commerce Militant,” zbid., p. 84; Stewart, “Chari- 
ties Indorsement in Retrospect and Prospect,”’ ibid., p. 100, 


476 OUTLINES OF SOCIOLOGY 


mental principles of charity based on scientific methods. Among 
them the following may be enumerated: the helpless must be 
taught to help themselves; the work test should be applied 
to all persons to the extent of their working power; indiscrimi- 
nate giving is dangerous and should be prohibited; every gift 
should be for the purpose of permanently helping the recipients ; 
relief, when given, should be adequate but should be carefully 
supervised; the rehabilitation of the dependent family — 
nothing less — should be one of the ultimate aims of scientific 
charity; the other ultimate aim should be the prevention of 


most difficult thing to do is to help others without at the same 
time doing an injury. Promiscuous giving is no longer consid- 
ered a virtue. To be generous and careless may lead to more 
trouble than to be penurious. One should not refrain from giv- 
ing and should not repress generosity, but the duty does not 
end with the giving, it extends to the insurance of good results 
from the gift. Acientific charity seeks not to relieve the public 
from the burdens of the poor, but seeks to lay increased re- 
sponsibility by doing more for the poor and doing it in a better 
way. | It is easy to give without responsibility, but it is a very 
difficult matter to follow up the gift with the responsibility of 
its effectiveness. ‘‘ The gift without the giver is bare.”’ The 
last quarter century in American charities has brought about 
a general reform in methods of dealing with the poor and the 
helpless. Much, however, still remains to be done. The public 
must be educated to a sense of the importance of the principles 
which experience has suggested. Workers both salaried and 
volunteer must be trained. The principles wrought out in 
the experience of private philanthropy must be introduced 
into public relief in the United States; in only one state, Indiana, 
has that been done to any appreciable extent. The experi- 
ments of other lands in the cure and prevention of poverty 
need to be adopted and tried out in our country. 


CHARITIES AND CHARITY ORGANIZATION 477 


REFERENCES 


Fow Ee, F. W. The Poor Law. 

HARNACK. Die Mission und Ausbreitung des Christentums, translated as, 
The Expansion of Christianity, Vol. I, Chap. III. 

HENDERSON, C. R. Modern Methods of Charity; Chap. I. 

National Conference of Charities and Correction, Vol. XVI, p. 24; Vol. XXI, 
p. 301; Vol. XXII, p. 28; Vol. XXXTI, pp. 113 ff. 

RicumonD, M. E. The Friendly Visitor. 

ULHORN, GERHARD. Charity in the Christian Church. 

WarneEr, AMOS G. American Charities, Revised Edition, 1908, Chaps. XII, 
XIV, XV. 


QUESTIONS AND EXERCISES 


1. State arguments for and against Mr. Spencer’s contention that by 
charity we do an injury to society by saving alive the weaker people. 

2. List the motives which lead people to give to the poor to-day. 

3. Show the similarity of motives between the alms distributed by politi- 
cal bosses, say the Tammany leaders on the East Side of New York and the 
motives of the politicians of Ancient Rome in giving “corn and games” to 
the populace. 

4. In the light of what happened in Rome when the wealth was concen- 
trated in few bands and the bulk of the people had little chance at inde- 
pendence, what would you say would be good social policy with respect to 
the problems of poverty in this country with its manhood suffrage, by which 
votes may be exchanged for a living? 

5. Are large sums spent on the poor necessarily good evidence of proper 
care of the poor? Why? Are small amounts? Why? 

6. In what respects was the charity of the church of the Middle Ages 
a good thing? Wherein was it open to criticism? 

7. Compare the charity of the churches to-day and public charity in their 
results. 

8. Compare the aims of public charity as administered to-day in the 
United States and the charity administered by a Society for Organizing Char- 
ity, or an Associated Charities. 

9. Outline the plan of public relief provided for in the laws of your state. 

10. Criticize these laws and suggest changes for the better. 


CHAPTER IV 
CRIME: ITS CAUSES AND PREVENTION 


Nature of Crime. — Crime is an offense against the law of 
the land. It varies in character and degree on account of the 
act itself and also on account of the law. A mild offense against 
the law is called a misdemeanor. A serious offense is called 
a crime. The only difference between a crime and a misde- 
meanor is in the gravity of the offense, and, since the estimate 
of the seriousness of an act varies from place to place, these 
are not the same in different communities. In early society, 
when natural justice prevailed and each man settled his own 
difficulties with his fellows, crime in a legal sense was unknown. 
Cruelty, savagery, and bestiality might have existed, but 
they did not become criminal until the judgment of society 
pronounced them so in formal law. Even after society began 
to recognize certain acts as criminal, they were treated solely 
as offenses against the person involved and not as against 
society at large. But now every criminal act is considered an 
offense against society. In a sociological sense a serious offense 
against society may be a social crime, even though the law has 
not been passed defining such act as criminal. 

The Extent and Cost of Crime.—In the United States 
it is impossible to obtain more than a mere guess at the extent 
of crime. The United States Census supplies some figures 
which are suggestive, although they do not measure the amount 
of criminality in the country. As between states a comparison 
is unfair because the various states do not have the same laws. 
There is the same difficulty when one tries to compare different 
countries with respect to criminality. With these limitations, 
however, some statistics of crime in different countries will 
be suggestive of the extent of this social malady. 

On June 30, 1904, there were in the prisons of the United 
States 81,772 prisoners, 77,269 males, and 4503 females, 55,111 
white, and 26,661 colored. Of these 53,392 were in state 

478 


CRIME: ITS CAUSES AND PREVENTION 479 


penitentiaries, 7261 in reformatories, 18,544 in county jails, 
and 2675 in city jails. During the year ending June 30, 1904, 
there had been sentenced to imprisonment in prisons, 149,691. 
Besides these numbers there were in juvenile reformatories, 
23,034.1 Thus, in 1904 there were more prisoners in the peni- 
tentiaries of the country (81,772) than there were undergradu- 
ate and graduate students in all the public universities, colleges, 
and technological schools of the United States (79,579), and 
almost as many as there were men undergraduates in both 
public and private universities, colleges, and technological 
schools of the country (82,877).? 

Inasmuch as the Census of 1890 included those who were in 
prison awaiting trial, it is impossible to compare the number 
sentenced in the two decades. The Special Report of 1904 re- 
ferred to above gives some comparative figures which, while in- 
exact and misleading perhaps, are worth consideration. As 
nearly as the statisticians employed on that report could ascer- 
tain there were per 100,000 population in the United States in 
1850, twenty-nine prisoners, in 1860, sixty-one, in 1870, eighty- 
five, in 1880, one hundred seventeen, in 1890, one hundred thirty- 
two, or corrected by deducting prisoners not yet sentenced, one 
hundred six, and in 1904, one hundred. These figures may or 
may not indicate an increase of crime. Besides the inaccuracy 
inhering in the figures themselves there is the fact that during all 
these decades new statutes have been put upon the statute books 
and immigrants not used to the language or the laws of the coun- 
try have been arriving in unheard-of numbers. While they per- 
haps break the laws and thus get into trouble, they are not always 
culpable. The list of homicides and suicides compiled by the 
Chicago Tribune shows in the twenty-one years from 1885 to 
1906 an increase from 32.2 homicides per million inhabitants 
to 108.9, and of suicides during the same period from 978 to 
10,125, while executions arose from 108 only to 123. The 
number of murders and homicides to each execution rose during 
that period from 17 to 76. On the other hand, lynchings fell 
from 181 to 69. One must not forget that it was during this 


1 Special Reports of the Census: Prisoners and Juvenile Delinquents in Institutions, 
1904, Pp. 29, 229. : 

2 Report of the Commissioner of Education of the United States, 1913, Vol. II, 
p. 180. 


480 OUTLINES OF SOCIOLOGY 


period that this country in common with most others has seen 
a great increase in substitutes for imprisonment and the death 
penalty. Certainly, however, these figures do not give us any 
assurance that crime is diminishing. 

Not much better is the showing of the European countries. 
Aschaffenburg, in his scholarly and temperate work, after 
giving many tables of figures comparing crime in Germany at 
different times, says, “‘ Hence, the conclusion is unavoidable 
that brutality, recklessness, and licentiousness are spreading 
more and more in the growing generation.” ! Recidivism in 
that country is increasing as everywhere else. He says, ‘‘ Of 
the 98,411 persons, who at the time of their conviction, in the 
years 1894 to 1896, had already served five or more sentences, 
72.7 per cent recidivated in the course of the five years following 
their last conviction.” ? 

This gloomy picture is not relieved by a consideration of 
the expense involved in this fact of criminality. Mr. Eugene 
Smith, before the National Prison Association in 1900, esti- 
mated that there are 250,000 persons in the United States 
who make their living in whole or in part by crime, costing 
the country $400,000,c00 a year, besides another charge of 
$200,000,000 a year in taxes to catch, try, and punish them. 
These enormous figures take no account of the property de- 
stroyed, the time, life, and labor lost and the private expense in- 
volved in running down criminals, to say nothing of the ex- 
pense of locks, burglar alarms, and other devices to prevent 
criminality. An interesting estimate of the direct and indirect 
cost of crime in the United States has been made by the chaplain 
of the Prison Evangelist Society of New York, which, while only 
an estimate, gives some idea of the items which must be taken 
into consideration. It is as follows: 


Aggregate cost to the various states. . . . . . . $774,000,000 
Aggregate cost to the Federal Government ... . 80,000,000 
Griminal losses Dy ft 6S atlas teieet eo. Ber us leita aX OO,000,O0G 
Custom Jhouse Thais ee Bick el us 60,000,000 
Wages of 100,000 in states’ prisons . . ..... 28,000,000 
Wages 0115 50.000 In alsa ne naa ne es) te re nee 33,000,000 

ELOtaL cil sn tn PORE Acc 9 4 Ta] eh erg Cad vt ECT 


1 Crime and its Repression, p. 218. * Tbid., p. 221. 


CRIME: ITS CAUSES AND PREVENTION 481 


The situation is similar in Germany. Aschaffenburg re- 
ports that in 1909 in Germany there were 248,648 thefts, frauds, 
and embezzlements, and adds, “ Unfortunately we have no 
idea, even approximately, how great the average damage was 
in each case, but there can be no doubt that national prosperity 
sustained a tremendous injury through these crimes against 
property.” Taking as a measure his findings as to the time- 
loss sustained by those who were gravely injured by assault 
in Worms, 7.3 days for each act, he estimates that for such 
crimes alone in Germany there was a loss of time amounting 
to 2308.8 years in that single year in Germany from that crime 
alone.} 

The Causes of Crime.— Among those causes which are 
prominent may be noted hereditary characteristics of the indi- 
vidual. His organic constitution, including the structure of 
the skull, brain, and vital organs, and his degree of sensibility — 
in fact, all bodily characteristics — may be of such nature as 
to induce criminal acts. Moreover, in the mental constitution 
of the criminal are often observed anomalies of intelligence and 
feeling. The moral sense is frequently blunted or deficient. 
This amounts sometimes to what is known as “ moral insanity,”’ 
or the absence of moral sense. While defects of this nature 
may not insure criminal action, they predispose the individual 
tocrime. Criminality due to hereditary defect is a combination 
of weakness and viciousness. Some inherited defect of mind 
or body, or both, furnishes the individual basis for criminal 
conduct. Under some social conditions such a person would 
not become criminal. But under social conditions which give 
the opportunity or furnish the social incentive to criminality, 
such an individual will not have the will power to resist tempta- 
tion to commit a crime, or will not be conscious of the gravity 
of the act, or, finally, will not be moved by the usual prudence 
which a socially normal person possesses. Some recent studies 
indicate that most of the criminality due to hereditary defect 
is the result of feeblemindedness. Pinel, Morel, and many 
others * have pointed out that many people are frequently char- 
acterized by what is called moral insanity, that is, seeming lack 
of any moral sense from their earliest days. Lombroso, taking 

1 Crime and its Repression, pp. 225, 226. 
2 Ferrero, Lombroso’s Criminal Man, p. 53. 
21 


482 OUTLINES OF SOCIOLOGY 


the cue from them, found, as he thought, a very close connection 
between the characteristics of the morally insane and the crim- 
inal, especially what he called the “ born criminal.”! He also 
called attention to the close relations which crime has to epilepsy, 
coming to the conclusion that moral insanity, epilepsy, insanity, 
and crime committed by the born criminal are all of one piece.? 
The labors of Lombroso stimulated inquiry both for and against 
his position and resulted in finer discriminations than he made. 
More careful studies made by others have, however, made clear 
that insane persons are often criminals. Indeed, the figures seem 
to indicate that the number of insane among those who commit 
serious crime is unduly large. Thus, Aschaffenburg found of 
those prisoners committed to the penal prison in Halle who had 
been guilty of sexual crime, only 45 out of 200 were entirely nor- 
mal. Leppmann found only 30 normal mentally out of go com- 
mitted to the penitentiary at Moabit for rape or for assaulting 
children.* Of the beggars and tramps examined by Bonhdffer 75 
per cent were more or less abnormal mentally.5 Of the young 
criminals incarcerated at Elmira the Superintendent and the 
Board of Managers report that to the unpracticed eye of the 
layman at least a third of them are mentally defective, while 
the physicians of the institutions put it at a much higher figure.® 
Sutherland, the English student of recidivism, is authority for 
the statement that fully one third of the recidivists of England 
are suffering from physical and mental degeneracy characterized 
by mental warp, instability, and feeblemindedness. He esti- 
mates that fully two thirds of the petty offenders who are re- 
cidivists are pathological in the same sense.’ Healy, in his 
Psychopathic Institute in Chicago, found that of 620 youthful 
recidivists, 26 per cent of them were distinctly below the class 
which he calls poor in native ability.2 Dr. Frank Moore, Super- 

1 Ferrero, Lombroso’s Criminal Man, pp. 52-57. 

2 Thid., p. 61. 

3 Aschaffenburg, Crime and its Repression, pp. 190, 101. 

4 Tbid., p. 191. 

5 [bid., pp. 191, 192. 

6 Report of the State Board of Managers of Reformatories of New York, 1912, pp. 
, Saag Recidivism, p. 50, quoted by Healy, ‘‘Mental Defects and Delin- 
quency,” Proceedings of the National Conference of Charities and Correction, 1911, 
p. 60. 


8 Healy, “Mental Defects and Delinquency,” Proceedings of the National Con- 
ference of Charities and Correction, 1911, p. 60. 


CRIME: ITS CAUSES AND PREVENTION 483 


intendent of the Rahway Reformatory in New Jersey, found 
that at least 46 per cent of the boys there were mentally deficient.! 
Goddard, of the Vineland, New Jersey, Institution for the Feeble- 
minded, estimates that 25 per cent of all delinquents are feeble- 
minded.” In his last book he estimates that from 25 to 50 
per cent of all our prisoners are mentally defective and incapable 
of managing their affairs with ordinary prudence.*? Just what 
proportion of crimes are committed by those who are mentally 
unbalanced or deficient it is impossible at this time to say, but 
the studies thus far made do indicate that inherited or acquired 
mental defect is responsible for much more of the criminality 
than we have been accustomed to suppose. 

Evil habits also are conducive to criminal action by gradu- 
ally destroying normal action. Also the use of narcotics, 
liquors, and drugs, by weakening the will power and destroying 
the moral sense, leads towards crime. Giving vent to wrath 
in a violent manner often weakens the self-control and dis- 
torts the judgment, and thus sometimes prepares the way for 
criminal action, should conditions arise favorable to it. 

This class of causes were once thought to be beyond human 
control. God had made people so. They were endowed by 
Him with certain evil propensities which were a part of the 
naturally depraved nature of man. God’s work, while beyond 
understanding, must not be meddled with; it must be borne. 
Many criminals employ the very same reasoning to-day in 
extenuation of their crimes.* With our growth of knowledge 
concerning man’s natural history and the laws of heredity, we 
know this reasoning is wrong. Whatever theory we may hold 
on the subject of creation, we now know that heredity in animals 
can be controlled to a remarkable extent. Why can it not be con- 
trolled in man, we naturally ask. No stock breeder would expect 
to raise race horses from draft-breed sires and dams. Heredity 
here, as in the case of paupers, should be more subject to social 
control than at present. The arguments for this are given in 
the chapter on Degeneracy and need not be repeated here. 


1 “Mentally Defective Delinquents,” in Proceedings of the National Confer- 
ence of Charities and Correction, 1911, p. 66. 

2‘ The Treatment of the Mental Defective who is also Delinquent,” in Proceed- 
ings of the National Conference of Charities and Correction, 1911, p. 64. 

3 Goddard, Feeblemindedness, Its Causes and Consequences, p. 7. 

4 See Ellis, The Criminal, 3d ed., 1907, p. 238. 


484 OUTLINES OF SOCIOLOGY 


Influences of Physical Nature on Crime. — Besides those 
causes of crimes arising from personal characteristics there 
are a large number of influences found arising from physical 
nature. Among these may be enumerated climatic conditions. 
It is observed that crime varies with the change of seasons or 
with the alternation of excessive heat and excessive cold. 
Crimes against the person are much more frequent in a hot 
climate or in a hot season, while crimes against property occur 
much oftener in a cold climate or in the winter season. Various 
explanations of this observed fact have been offered. Some 
have suggested that the heat irritates people and makes them 
more inclined to violence, while cold has the contrary effect, 
but coincides with the time of year when food is naturally 
scarce and so induces crimes against property. Probably 
the frequent opportunities offered by hot weather and warm 
climates for social contact have more to do with crimes of violence 
than the effect directly of the heat. The relative length of day 
and night in part limits the kind and determines the nature 
of crime. Meteoric conditions, storms, and sudden climatic 
changes affecting the nervous and mental conditions of men are 
conducive to crime. What influence electrical disturbances 
have on criminal action has never been scientifically determined, 
although there are specific indications that there are positive 
relations between the two. 

Little can be done to remove the causes of crime which reside 
in the physical environment. Were the time given for it, 
man would naturally become adapted to his environment by the 
elimination of those who are moved to antisocial conduct by 
the physical conditions. But human beings are migratory. 
A people does not remain long enough in one place to permit 
this slow process of adaptation by natural selection to work out 
its results. Doubtless the repressive measures of society have 
ever stimulated those most easily affected by the physical 
conditions to adapt themselves and restrain their impulses. 
Moreover, these influences are the most regular of all the causes 
of crime in their action and can be foreseen and provided for 
to a certain extent. Probably they also are the group of causes 
accounting for the smallest amount of crime. 

Social Causes of Crime.— Social conditions have much 
to do with criminal action. The person somewhat weak in 


CRIME: ITS CAUSES AND. PREVENTION 485 


character might never be guilty of criminal action if he had 
the right kind of social environment. On the other hand, a 
person of strong character will have sufficient power of re- 
sistance to remain uninfluenced by bad social or physical 
conditions. 

The density of population in large cities is conducive to bad 
social conditions and supplies strong incentives to criminal 
action. Crowded conditions in the home break down decency 
and modesty and lead to sexual crimes. The intense crowding 
multiplies human contacts, thus provoking conflict. Poverty is 
ever there with her debasing influence, ever crowding the weak 
soul to criminality to make a living. There are the glaring 
contrasts between poverty and wealth leading to the develop- 
ment of class feeling and class conflict. There also criminal 
“ gangs’ with their baleful influence upon the innocent have 
their paradise. 

Isolated community life has, in an opposite way, an effect on 
crime. The very vacuity of life in such places makes for 
crime. In the absence of the more refined excitements of the 
normal social community, people in these places resort to the 
elemental and primitive. Violence, either lustful or predatory, 
stalks abroad here with small chance of discovery. Vice and 
sexual irregularities find’many who have nothing better to do. 
Feuds thrive where the bonds are chiefly those of kinship. 
The normal society is one of sufficient density to permit all 
social advantages and proper social regulation without the evils 
of overcrowding. 

The moral attitude of a community has considerable to do with 
the amount of crime committed. Where the standard is high 
and public opinion severe against crime there is much less of 
it than where the standard is low and public opinion not con- 
demnatory. Likewise, it may be said that law may increase 
the apparent amount of crime without increasing the actual 
criminal conditions of a community. Thus, criminality always 
seems to increase, following the enactment of a strong prohibitory 
liquor law. That seeming increase, however, is often due solely 
to men’s reaction against a new and unpopular law. Also 
where the police force is active in the apprehension of crime 
and the judicial system very efficient in its operations, the re- 
corded amount of crime will be higher, although the tendency 


486 OUTLINES OF SOCIOLOGY 


in the long run will be to decrease crime. The customs and 
religion of a community, the nature of industrial pursuits, as 
well as the financial and economic conditions, have much to do 
with the increase or decrease of crime. For example, let the 
religion lay no or little emphasis upon morality and regard 
for law and you will have much crime. Let financial and in- 
dustrial depression come; thousands will be thrown out of 
work; some will be ruined; and thefts and robberies will 
increase. 

Defective legislative, judicial, and punitive machinery may 
actually increase the crime of a community. Consider what 
happens when there is a corrupt or unjust judge. Criminals 
believe they can buy the judge’s favor, and crime is increased. 
Let the legislature pass a law which makes it impossible to 
secure swift and certain justice; criminals will gamble upon 
the chance, and crime will increase. Let the police take bribes 
and collect graft, crime will flourish, for criminals will be pro- 
tected against society by the paid officers of the law, as every 
investigation involving police departments for the last twenty 
years unmistakeably shows. 

The social causes of crime probably bulk largest in their 
influence upon criminality. Yet they are the most hopeful 
because perhaps the most subject to control by society. If bad 
social conditions are the result of social neglect, why may not 
better social conditions be secured by careful conscious planning 
by society? Every movement which relieves the density of 
population — cheap transportation, suburban planning, re- 
moval of factories from great centers to suburbs, garden cities, 
good housing, which provides a normal outlet to social instincts, 
normal recreation, stimulation of interest in books, art, clean, 
healthful sport, social religion, scientific legislation, just judges, 
and a criminal procedure which secures equal justice to all and 
speedy and certain action to apprehend the guilty; an educa- 
tion which prepares for the useful life — all will make good con- 
ditions for people to live in, and tend to lessen crime. 

Classification of the Causes of Crime. — Arranged according 
to the influence operating to produce crime, perhaps the briefest 
and yet a fairly comprehensive classification of the causes of 
crime is proposed by Professor Henderson, which we have 
ventured to summarize as follows: 


CRIME: ITS CAUSES AND. PREVENTION 487 


(1) Causes in the External World. 

(a) Climate) Hot climates and seasons cause crimes against 

(d) ny person ; cold, crime against property. 

(c) Meteorological changes — electric conditions, barometric 
changes, humidity and heat, day and night. 

(2) Social Conditions. 

(a) Conjugal relation — more crime among single than among 
married. 

(b) Social position — lower classes furnish more than upper 
classes. 

(c) Density of population — crime increases with density. 

(d) Customs — begging, causing mutilation of children to pro- 
duce sympathy for child by public; carrying concealed 
weapons; dueling and fighting; public torture. 

(e) Economic conditions — poverty, industrial changes. 

(f) Food and famine — theft and robbery —not definitely 
determined. 

(g) Beliefs — “property is robbery”; the whole product of 
industry belongs to labor; ‘‘scabs” have no right to 
work, etc. 

(k) Lack of industrial education — no chance to earn an honest 
living. 

(t) Political factors — spoils system, bribery. 

(j) Bad associations and evil suggestion— ‘‘gangs’’ of boys 
dominated by bad men; ‘“‘yellow” newspapers and 
novels; public scandal and crime in newspapers, etc. 

(k) Lynching — brutality and violence engenders crime. 

(1) Immigration — not much directly, but indirectly through 
race and industrial conflict. 

(m) The negro factor — race prejudice, unskilled labor, social 
ostracism. 

(3) Physical and Psychical Nature of the Individual. 

(a) Sex — five times as many male as female convicts. 

(b) Age — youth is the criminal age. 

(c) Education — training in trades and morals decreases crime. 

(d) Occupation — those which attract rude untrained men 
show most crime; semicriminal occupations like saloons, 
gambling, etc., increase crime; kind of crime varies 
with occupation. 

(e) Alcoholism — weakens inhibitory powers, dulls the con- 
science, excites anger and lust; leads to bad associations. 

(f) Hereditary and individual degeneration.! 


) 


1 Henderson, Dependents, Defectives and Delinquents, 1901, pp. 238-253. 


488 OUTLINES OF SOCIOLOGY 


Classifications of Crime. — Stephen, in his History of Crim- 
inal Law in England, has given the following classifications of 
crimes: ‘“(z) Attacks upon the public order, (2) abuses or 
obstructions of public authority, (3) acts injurious to the 
public in general, (4) attacks upon the persons of individuals 
or upon rights annexed to their persons, (5) attacks upon the 
property of individuals or rights connected with, and similar 
to rights of property.”” Perhaps in a more practical way we 
might speak of political crimes, such as treason and counter- 
feiting; of public crimes not political, such as lynch law, mob 
violence and arson; crimes against persons, such as assault 
and battery, rape, murder, manslaughter; and crimes against 
the property of persons, such as theft, robbery, embezzlement, 
and forgery. 

The Classification of Criminals. — Criminologists have studied 
long and hard to discover a criminal type. Thus far they have 
not succeeded in demonstrating that there is a universal type 
which is essentially criminal. But their investigations have 
been rewarded in showing that certain criminals, especially 
those known as “ instinctive,” have an aggregation of defects 
or characteristics, which, taken together, show their possessor 
to be an abnormal individual and help to explain his criminality. 
These defects are in part physical anomalies. Among those 
noticed more often in criminals than in non-criminals, accord- 
ing to the criminal anthropologists, are skulls of the average 
size with frequent extremes. Thieves have small heads, mur- 
derers large heads. The pointed skull is frequent, the lower 
jaw is unusually heavy, an asymmetrically shaped head occurs 
often, the orbit of the eye is unusually large, the zygomatic 
arch unusually high and prominent. Defects of brain are 
very frequent in what Lombroso called the “ born criminal.”’ 
There is an extraordinary tendency to vary from the racial 
type of head form. If he belongs to a long-headed race, the 
criminal’s is likely to be unusually long. The physiognomy 
is said to betray criminality — sullen looks; furtive eyes in 
the thief, a stare in the murderer. Abnormalities of organs 
occur more often than among non-criminals — unusually 
long arms, left-handedness, or ambidextrousness, pointed ears, 
scanty beard in men and beard in women, extra fingers, toes, 
and teeth, defective lungs, heart, and nervous system. Many 


CRIME: ITS CAUSES AND PREVENTION 489 


others have been suggested by students of the matter. It 
must be added, however, that all these stigmata of degeneracy 
which have been found only go to show that an unusual number 
of degenerates become criminals, and therefore the greater 
number of these signs of degeneracy appear among prisoners 
than among non-criminals. The finding of these stigmata of 
degeneracy was what led Lombroso at first to declare the crimi- 
nal an atavism, then broaden the generalization and say that 
the criminal is an insane person, and later to further declare 
that he is an epileptoid.! 

Likewise, abnormalities have been observed in the intellectual 
characteristics of criminals. They are declared to be lacking 
in moral sensibility, do not dream so readily as other people — 
a condition found also among idiots and epileptics of long 
standing. In intelligence they are stupid, inexact, imprudent, 
yet having a cunning which leads to hypocrisy and lying. On 
the whole they are distinctly below non-criminals in intelligence. 
They are emotionally unstable, often very sentimental, usually 
religious after a superstitious, unethical fashion, and manifest 
a debasing tendency in all their literature and art. They are 
anti-social, not in the sense that they do not love companion- 
ship, but that they hate society and its ways, having a code 
of their own, when they are not distinctly defective mentally. 

These anthropological characteristics of the criminal are 
not agreed upon by all criminologists. The Germans espe- 
cially have contended that the Italian school has failed to es- 
tablish many of its generalizations.2, While we must record 
the judgment that the Germans have in many cases shown the 
Italian case “‘ not proven,” yet there can be no doubt that the 
Italian school has done an invaluable service in pointing out 
the close relationships undoubtedly existing between degeneracy 
and crime in a considerable number of cases. The debate, 
however, is leading to the conclusion that crime has links 
connecting it not only with physical degeneracy, but with bad 
social conditions in even a larger number of cases. 

While it may be contended that crime, not the criminal, is 


1 For a full discussion, in a friendly spirit, of these findings of criminal anthro- 
pology, see Ellis, The Criminal, 4th ed., 1910, Chaps. III and IV. 

2 For a summary of the German position, see Aschaffenburg, Crime and its Repres- 
sion, pp. 168-186. 


490 OUTLINES OF SOCIOLOGY 


the pathological social phenomenon, and therefore less atten- 
tion should be given to a classification of criminals than of 
crime, it must be remembered that so far as the treatment of 
crime is concerned, no progress was made until after the theory 
that the punishment must fit the crime gave way to the theory 
that the punishment must fit the criminal. Bearing in mind 
the practical aim of the study of crime — how to treat it — 
we venture to classify the criminals as well as their crimes. 

Dr. Dugdale has given the following typical classes of crimi- 
nals who have come within his observation:! (1) Those who 
are essentially non-criminal but by force of circumstances or 
accident have broken the law. (2) First offenders who fall 
through vanity or self-indulgence and the influence of evil 
women. (3) First offenders who are led into crime by bad 
associates. (4) Convicts of low vitality born under evil con- 
ditions who have drifted into crime from lack of care. (5) 
Illegitimate children born of intemperate, vicious, and criminal 
parents, who bring them up to a life of crime. (6) Promoters 
of crime as a regular business. (7) Criminals who seek to 
retire from active service and become criminal capitalists. (8) 
Those who pander to the vices of criminals and thus become 
the active abettors to crime. (9) Criminals through epilepsy, 
insanity, and perverted minds. (10) Those affected with 
nervous diseases which cause them to lose control of themselves 
and commit crime. 

Henderson classifies criminals as: (1) accidental, (2) eccentric, 
(3) insane, (4) moral imbecile, (5) instinctive, (6) criminals 
by acquired habit, (7) criminals by passion, and (8) criminals 
by occasion.? 

Ellis has a simpler classification as follows: (1) political, 
(2) by passion, (3) insane, (4) instinctive, (5) occasional, and 
(6) habitual.® 

Draehms has proposed a classification which is too simple. 
He divides criminals into classes as follows: (1) instinctive, 
(2) habitual, and (3) single offender.‘ 

From the standpoint of the social welfare rather than from 


1 The Jukes, pp. 110-111. 

2 Henderson, Dependents, Defectives and Delinquents, 1901, pp. 219-224. 
3 Ellis, The Criminal, 4th ed., Chap. I. 

4Draehms, The Criminal, Chap. III. 


CRIME : ITS CAUSES AND PREVENTION 491 


that of legal status, which considers what the person charged 
with crime has actually done, the accidental criminal is in no 
sense a criminal. His act was the result of accident and his 
conduct was not antisocial. For example, in the prison of 
one of our states in the Central West was a man sentenced under 
the law for several years for causing the death of a man under 
the following circumstances: The man condemned to prison 
and his wife were sitting on a bench in a park on a summer’s 
evening attending a band concert, when a drunken man came 
jostling through the crowd. Because the wife of this man 
happened to be in his way he struck her with his fist. The 
woman’s husband struck back at the drunken man and struck 
him a blow in the temple which killed him. This man who 
killed the other had never been a quarrelsome person and did 
only what any man would have done in defense of his wife. 
From the standpoint of sociology, therefore, the accidental 
criminal should be excluded from the category of criminals. 
So, the moral imbecile is either insane or mentally defective 
in some other way and should not be classified separately. He 
belongs either under the category of the insane or of the in- 
stinctive. Nevertheless, since the law still is tinged with the 
social theory of an earlier day, such crimes may be retained in 
a comprehensive classification. We venture, therefore, to sug- 
gest the following classification: (1) political; (2) occasional, 
including (a) accidental, (6) eccentric, (c) by passion, (d) single 
offender; (3) natural, including, (a) moral imbecile, (6) 
insane, (c) feeble-minded, (d) epileptic; and (4) habitual, 
including, (@) the natural criminal, (6) the criminal by acquired 
habit. 

The term “ political criminal” is used to indicate those 
who commit a crime against the established government. It 
includes those who are guilty of trying to kill public officials, 
in order the better to overturn the government. They were 
formerly called regicides for the reason that they usually 
attacked the king as the chief representative of the hated 
social order. It includes also the rebel against the established 
government. The term also includes what has come to be 
termed the regenticide, or magnicide, who is also an anarchist, 
such as Caserio, who killed Carnot, president of France, and 
Czolgosz, the assassin of McKinley. Sometimes such a person 


492 OUTLINES OF SOCIOLOGY 


is insane, as in the case of the man who made an attempt on 
the life of ex-President Roosevelt at Milwaukee in the autumn 
of 1912, and sometimes he is perfectly sane, as in the case of 
Czolgosz.! 

The occasional criminal includes four different varieties. 
He may commit an offense against the law by accident, as in 
the case of the man who struck the drunken fellow without 
intent to kill. While such a man is a criminal in the sight of 
the law, he scarcely presents a problem for criminology. He may 
commit crime because he is out of tune with the times in which 
he lives. If dissent from the established church is a crime, as 
it has been in many countries in times past and still remains so in 
some of the more backward countries, then the heretic is a crimi- 
nal. Socrates was such a criminal. These men are eccentric 
according to the thought of their times and they are therefore 
criminals. Again, the occasional criminal may include him 
who in a burst of passion commits crime, but when he is calm 
suffers remorse for the act committed. Usually the act was 
done under the spur of insult or severe provocation or under 
the stimulation of wild companions in youth. These may 
become criminals if they are thrown into prison with hardened 
criminals or are not allowed to have a chance to redeem them- 
selves. They may, however, under favorable conditions be- 
come good citizens. A variety of the occasional criminal is 
to be found in what is called the single offender. Sometimes 
he is a criminal by passion. He learns his lesson by that one 
experience and ever after controls his impulses. He may, how- 
ever, be one who had got into bad company and had set out on 
a criminal career with the avowed purpose of warring against 
society, but who was caught in time and came out of his experi- 
ence with the law with sobered mind and a social attitude. 

What is here called the natural criminal is what the Italian 
school calls “‘ the criminal born.”” The term “ natural ”’ is pref- 
erable because it does not beg the question as to whether crime 
as such is inheritable. It includes all those persons who become 
criminals largely because of the inheritance of defects which 
sometimes incline them towards antisocial acts. Included in 
this class is the moral imbecile, who by reason of inherited mental 


1For a good summary of the post-mortem and ante-mortem examinations of 
Czolgosz see Ellis, The Criminal, 4th ed., pp. 415-417. 


CRIME: ITS CAUSES AND PREVENTION 493 


defect, has no sense of the value of different acts. It also in- 
cludes the feeble-minded of the higher types, who, under favorable 
circumstances, would probably remain perfectly normal in con- 
duct. In this class must be placed the epileptic who, in a 
seizure, commits a crime, but who is not conscious of his acts. 

The last class, the habitual criminal, is subdivided into the 
habitual criminal who is a mental defective and who has con- 
tinued so long in crime that it has become habitual with him 
and no amount of favorable influences will now keep him in 
correct ways. It also includes those unfortunate persons who, 
while young, have fallen into bad ways, and who, because of 
being refused a chance by society or because of bad associates, 
while being punished, have lost all hope of a decent life, and 
have finally decided that a life of crime is the only one open to 
them. 

Ferri has made an interesting estimate of the numbers of 
criminals in the different classes. He estimates that insane 
and criminals by passion constitute only from 5 per cent to 
to per cent of the convicts; the natural, or instinctive criminals 
from 2 per cent to 3 per cent; the habitual criminals from 37 
per cent or 38 per cent to 47 or 48 per cent, and the occasional 
criminals from 40 to 55 per cent. If this estimate is true, it is 
apparent that the criminals by habit and by occasion form by 
far the largest part of the criminal population. It must be 
remembered, however, that in these classes are some who are 
also defective and only by careful segregation can be kept from 
preying upon society. However, the showing is hopeful by 
reason of the fact that so large a proportion of the whole are 
criminals because of wrong social conditions. 

Why do we classify criminals? Only that we may know how 
to treat them. He who is a criminal by passion needs to be 
treated much differently from him who is a moral imbecile. 
He who is a criminal by accident cannot be treated in the same 
way as he who has lost all hope and has become an habitual 
criminal. It is in the interests of individualization of penal 
measures. Just as physicians classify disease that they may 
know how to give the proper treatment to each kind of disease, 
so the social physician tries to classify crime so that he may 
understand it and know how to provide measures that will 
prevent and cure it. 


494 OUTLINES OF SOCIOLOGY 


The Punishment of Crime. — In former times the punish- 
ment of crime always carried with it the spirit of revenge, and 
criminals were thrown into prisons and dungeons with some- 
thing of the idea of getting even with them or hurrying them out 
of the sight of the community. Under the more enlightened 
conditions of modern society the objects of punishment are 
clearly defined as (1) the protection of society, (2) the preven- 
tion of crime, (3) the reform of criminals. The whole object of 
punishment is to improve the conditions of society. 

Various methods of exercising this punishment have been 
instituted, such as capital and corporal punishment, imprison- 
ment, confiscation of property, banishment, and a deprivation 
of civil and political rights. While perhaps retributive justice 
still receives the approval of most people who have not thought 
carefully about the matter and of some students of penology 
either as a deterrent or as a satisfaction of what is sometimes 
called “‘ our natural sense of the fitness of things,’”’ but which is 
really a survival in our thought of the old sanction of revenge, 
correction of individual action, and the prevention of crime are 
to-day considered the more important phases of the purpose of 
criminal law. The humanity of modern society, and the aim 
to improve society, demand that reform shall be made very im- 
portant in the treatment of the criminal. So bad have been 
the results of prison life and labor and so great has been the 
growth of sentiment in favor of giving even prisoners a chance 
to live their lives under the best possible circumstances, and, if 
possible, to reform, that a number of important movements have 
recently risen above the horizon of public attention. One is 
outdoor work for prisoners not only in reformatories, but also in 
the penitentiaries; sometimes on farms adjoining, sometimes 
upon the roads. The purpose is to get the men out into the 
open sunlight and fresh air, where their health is bettered and 
their conduct much improved. The other is a movement in the 
interest of the families dependent upon these men for support. 
This takes two directions, the one in favor of parole for long- 
term and even life prisoners, the other looking towards the 
establishment of a wage for the families, this wage to be paid 
by the state from the earnings of the man. These earnings are 
supposed to be in excess of what it takes to support him in the 
prison. The prison farm and road work have been introduced 


CRIME; ITS CAUSES AND PREVENTION 495 


in a number of states. It has been possible in certain states for 
some time for prisoners to earn some money by overtime work. 
Earnings out of the actual production of the man in excess of 
what it costs to keep him are a dream thus far in the experience 
of prison management. ‘These movements, however, are experi- 
ments which will probably suggest better ways of treating those 
who must be shut away from society. As yet the problem is by 
no means solved. 

Reformation. — The reformation of the criminal is accom- 
plished by the application of the various methods of prison 
management. In the first place a careful study, both physical 
and mental, by the most exact methods known, should be made 
of all prisoners with a view to their proper classification. The 
hardened and hopeless criminals should be separated from the 
first offenders, and insane, feeble-minded, and epileptic criminals 
should be segregated by themselves in special institutions for — 
the care of these classes. Adult offenders guilty of a misde- 
meanor should be placed either in a farm colony or on probation, 
young adult criminals in a reformatory or on probation, and 
hardened criminals in a penitentiary. Industrial labor of all 
kinds should be instituted as a means of discipline, and, in 
hopeful cases not in for life, as preparatory to the independent 
life of the individual on release. In the case of hopeless re- 
cidivists, labor should be provided which will help to defray the 
expenses of their maintenance, and to support their families. 
Academic instruction should be given to all prisoners capable of 
profiting thereby during certain hours in the day. Opportuni- 
ties should be given for moral and religious instruction as well. 
Within the prison walls careful classification of all inmates 
should be made, and only those allowed to associate together 
who will be mutually helpful. All evil association should be 
avoided. Some have advocated the unicellular system, in 
which solitary confinement is the only rule, as in the Penn- 
sylvania system. While this has its advantages in discipline, it 
is lacking in the methods of reform inasmuch as it gives no 
opportunities for association. On the other hand, where the 
group system is allowed it requires great care and skill in classi- 
fication and management. 

One of the best methods of reform is found in the indetermi- 
nate sentence, which treats the prisoner as susceptible of reform 


496 OUTLINES OF SOCIOLOGY 


under punishment. The law usually fixes the term of imprison- 
ment from a minimum to a maximum sentence, for instance, 
from two to six years. When found guilty the judge sentences 
the prisoner to the penitentiary or the reformatory without 
stating the exact length of time. Then, through the adminis- 
tration of the prison board or the warden, he is kept in confine- 
ment only so long as it seems necessary to complete a reform, 
but within the maximum sentence; he is then allowed to go free. 
Usually, in connection with the indeterminate sentence is the 
parole system, under which a person is allowed to leave the 
prison on parole, reporting monthly to the warden concerning 
his location, condition, and success. If he fails to report while 
on parole, or commits any crime or misdemeanor he is returned 
to the prison to work out his full time of service. The parole 
system has been a success in reformatories, industrial schools, 
and penitentiaries wherever tried, even though in none of our 
states has anything but the limited indeterminate sentence — 
that is, with a maximum limit — ever been tried. A modifica- 
tion of the indeterminate sentence, as it prevails in New York 
and upon which most indeterminate laws are based, is that in 
force in Massachusetts, applying only to women. Instead of the 
time spent while out on parole counting on the maximum time 
of sentence, only that spent in the reformatory counts, so that 
it is impossible for a woman to behave herself for a few months 
after release on parole until her sentence expires and then do as 
she pleases. That unexpired time hangs over her for two years 
if a misdemeanant, and for five if a felon, while out on parole.! 

But the best method of social reform is prevention, and 
therefore industrial education, care of boys in towns through 
recreation grounds and social centers, and the prevention of the 
spread of the criminal suggestion and example, are of great 
value. To this end the juvenile court, which has recently been 
instituted in a large number of the States, is proving an im- 
portant means of prevention. It has long been known that our 
jails are conducive to the development of crime. The careless 
association of all classes, the herding of the young and old 
together, and the lack of reformatory measures, have made the 
modern jail nothing more or less than a breeder of crime. The 
juvenile court comes to the rescue and says to the boy who has 


1Mrs. Barrows in Henderson, Penal and Reformatory Institutions, p. 146. 


CRIME: ITS CAUSES AND PREVENTION 497 


committed his first offense, “ The jail is awaiting you, you are 
guilty, but I am going to send you back to your home and to the 
school and you must report to me regularly for a term of six 
months or a year of what you are doing. This report must be 
signed by your teacher or your parents.’’ Or the judge may say, 
*“‘T will send you to a good home or to the industrial school or 
some other place, but I will keep you out of jail.”” A juvenile 
court thus instituted to try all cases of children under sixteen 
is an important means for the prevention of crime. 

Program of Reform. — The program of reform, then, should 
begin with the improvement of the condition of homes and tene- 
ments of people of the poorer classes, the institution of free kin- 
dergartens, and the development of industrial education. The 
jail should be remodeled and created into an institution of reform 
by the proper classification of the inmates and the establishment 
of industrial and educational processes. The farm colony plan 
has worked with signal success in Washington, D. C., and Cleve- 
land, Ohio.! Great stress should be laid on reformation in the 
industrial and reform schools, the reformatory, and the peni- 
tentiary. But the best work that is done is that which educates 
towards independent manhood and keeps people out of institu- 
tions. Prevention of crime is the only certain cure of crime. 


REFERENCES 


ASCHAFFENBURG, GUSTAV. Crime and its Repression. 

Evuis, HAaveELock. The Criminal, pp. 124-200, 233-329. 

FerrRI, Enrico. Criminal Sociology, pp. 1-143, 200-265. 

Forks, Homer. The Care of Destitute, Neglected, and Delinquent Children, 
Pp. 198-239. 

Gritty. “Social Factors Affecting the Volume of Crime,” The Physical 
Bases of Crime, 1914, pp. 53-67, or Bulletin of the American Academy 
of Medicine, Vol. XV, Apr. 1914, pp. 71-85. 

HENDERSON, C. R. Dependents, Defectives, and Delinquents, pp. 102-232; 
Preventive Agencies and Methods; Penal and Reformatory Institutions. 

LomBroso, CEsARE. The Female Offender, pp. 27-35, 147-191; Crime, Its 
Causes and Remedies. 

MAcpDoNALpD, ARTHUR. Criminology. 

TaLiack, WiLLiam. Penological and Preventive Principles, pp. 1-100, 194- 
260. 

Wines, F. H. Punishment and Reformation, pp. 132-229. 

1“Farm Treatment of Misdemeanants,” Jackson, Proceedings of National Con- 
ference of Charities and Correction, 1911, pp. 70 sq.; “‘The Farm Colony,” Cooley, 
tbid., 1912, pp. 191 sq. 
2K 


498 OUTLINES OF SOCIOLOGY 


QUESTIONS AND EXERCISES 


1. State the difference between crime in the legal sense and crime in the 
sociological sense. 

2. Attempt to ascertain the cost of crime in your county. 

3. Pick out a half dozen cases of crime in your community and ascertain 
the causes operating in each case. 

4. In the light of the discussion in the text carefully analyze the laws of 
your state for dealing with murder and criticize them, pointing out the ad- 
mirable characteristics and the defects. 

5. What plans has your state for the reformation of criminals? 

6. Make an outline of a system of laws governing the punishment of the 
crime of homicide inspired by the aim to reform those that are probably 
subject to reformatory influences and to protect society from those who are 
hopeless. Give your reasons for each measure proposed in this scheme. 


CHAPTER V 


SOCIAL DEGENERATION 


Nature of Social Degeneration. — Social degeneracy is often 
discussed but rarely defined. Nordau’s large book upon degen- 
eration lacks definiteness as to what is social degeneration. 
His thesis is that the nervous diseases that curse society to-day, 
the literary and artistic monstrosities which appear ever and 
again, and the moral and religious crazes which arise from time 
to time are symptoms of degeneracy.! 

Morel made a learned study of individual degeneracy and its 
causes and results, but it has a bearing only as individual de- 
generation affects society. Social degeneration as such he does 
not treat. So, many others with Morel, for example, Feré, 
Talbot, Lange, and a host of geneticists and eugenists, have 
written extensively upon certain aspects of degeneracy in the 
individual. Only indirectly do these studies bear upon the 
question of social degeneration. 

Ward in his Pure Sociology touches the question of race 
degeneration. He treats it from the analogical point of view, 
drawing the parallel between the extinction of the highly special- 
ized forms of animal and plant life, like the dinosaurs and the 
giant sequoias, respectively, and races and nations, citing as 
examples the conquest of Troy by Greece, the yielding to Spain 
in the fifteenth century of the torch of civilization borne by 
Italy up to that time. To Ward, “ race and national degenera- 
tion are nothing more than this pushing out of the vigorous 
branches or sympodes at the expense of the parent trunks.” 
He makes the term degeneration synonymous with decadence.? 

We know what biological degeneracy is. It is the degeneracy 
~ of the individual in one or more of a number of ways. Genet- 
ically it may be described as a variation from the type in the 
direction of less complexity of physical organization, with the 


1 Nordau, Degeneration. 2 Ward, Pure Sociology, pp. 77, 78, 227-229. 
499 


500 OUTLINES OF SOCIOLOGY 


result that the organism is illy adapted to meet the conditions 
of life. In the parasite it is adaptation of the organism in order 
that the creature may the more easily adjust itself to the struggle 
for existence in accordance with the law of parsimony, or least 
effort, and a consequent simplification of structure. It is doubt- 
ful whether the plants and animals which have succeeded the 
old, highly specialized forms are degenerations from the latter. 
Rather they seem to be cases of arrested development of un- 
specialized forms better adapted to the conditions of existence 
under a suddenly and greatly changed environment. So the 
races and peoples which occupy highlands or those which are 
found in out-of-the-way places like the interior of Africa or of 
Australia are probably cases of arrested development rather 
than degenerate races. If social degeneration is to be inter- 
preted in this way, then examples are to be found in the decadent 
Roman Empire, the Italian city states in the days of their 
decadence, and in the Spain of to-day. 

Social degeneration is the breaking up of the codrdination 
existing between the various social elements, — individuals and 
the subgroups which codperate in the social process, — by the 
growth of so many antisocial elements that social unity is 
destroyed. This comes about by the growth of degeneracy 
among the individuals who make up society. Therefore, indi- 
vidual degeneracy has a direct bearing upon social degeneration, 
for degenerate individuals are either unsocial, or antisocial 
and are unable to codperate in the aims and purposes of society. 

Social degeneration, then, arises from the decline of the in- 
dividual who fails to perform his part in the social activity. 
This causes a breakdown in the social mechanism and a decline 
in social activity. So long as each individual may be replaced 
by another as he fails or declines, society may be perpetuated, 
if not destroyed by outside influences. Just as a diseased mem- 
ber of the body may eventually destroy the individual, so a dis- 
eased part of society may be the cause of the destruction of the 
whole body. Social degeneration, then, is an evidence of social 
disease. 

Degeneration through Intemperance. — Wherever intem- 
perance of any kind exists social degeneration certainly and 
physical degeneration probably will result. The parent who 
is given over to the excessive use of intoxicating liquors may not 


SOCIAL DEGENERATION 501 


beget drunkards, but he probably will hand down to his chil- 
dren the enfeebled germ plasm which made him a drunkard, 
still further weakened by his excesses, and thus he may be the 
cause of the development of epilepsy, or imbecility, in his off- 
spring. Continue this to a sufficient degree and society finally 
becomes extinct. On the other hand, the sober, industrious, 
temperate people, the stock being untainted with degeneracy, 
not only give forth the ideas which are the motors of develop- 
ment and normal progress, but perpetuate a stock which in- 
creases in vigor and is able to seize and use the opportunities 
for advancement. Under this law temperate people eventually 
possess the material wealth of the community, control the social 
forces, and discover the truth, essential to social advance. 
Hence, it is not merely the sapping of the physical vitality of 
the race that constitutes the principal effect of intemperance; 
it is the destruction of normal codperative society. Intemper- 
ance is against all normal progress and therefore involves decay. 

There is no doubt that intemperance is often the result of 
degeneracy in the individual. The enfeebled intellect has no 
restraining power. It drifts as a ship without a rudder. The 
feebleminded, the epileptic, and the insane, as well as the neuro- 
path in general, often find in alcohol a substitute for the emo- 
tional satisfaction furnished normal beings in other ways —a 
crutch for their unstable nerves. Dr. Branthwaite studied 2277 
inebriates as to their mental condition and found 16.1 per cent 
insane, 62.6 per cent imbeciles, degenerates, and epileptics in a 
marked degree, defective but to a less degree manifesting defec- 
tiveness in eccentricity, silliness, dullness, senility, or periodical 
fits of ungovernable temper, while but 37.4 per cent were of 
average mental capacity. He estimated that at least 62 per 
cent of these cases were inebriate by reason of their mental 
condition.! Of the 774 men committed to the lowa State In- 
stitution for Inebriates in 1906-1908 the parents of 13 were 
defectives and of 94 were diseased. The fathers of 26 and the 
mothers of 21 were tuberculous and the mothers of 11 and the 
fathers of 12 had heart disease. One or bdth of the parents of 
427 of them were intemperate in the use of liquor. In the two 
years 1910-1912 the figures are even more striking. Of 665 
inmates of that institution 8 had defective fathers or mothers, 

1Quoted by Warner, American Charities, Rev. Ed., 1908, pp. 79, 80. 


502 OUTLINES OF SOCIOLOGY 


116 diseased fathers or mothers, while 250 had fathers or mothers 
who were intemperate. The parents of only 88 were known to 
be non-users of liquor. 

On the other hand we are uncertain how great is the influence 
of liquor in producing inheritable degeneracy. In an investiga- 
tion made for the American Medico-Psychological Association 
published in 1903, 5145 insane persons were investigated. 
Thirty per cent were total abstainers, while the insanity of 
twenty-four per cent was considered due directly to the influence 
of liquor. Dr. Billings in commenting upon these and other 
figures of like nature said, ‘“‘ In any case where there is a tendency 
to psychic or nervous instability or abnormal action either in- 
herited or acquired, the excessive use of alcohol may act as the 
exciting cause like a torch to inflammable material, but the 
same result may be produced with any excess creating a strain 
on the nervous system.” ? Professor Hodge of Clark Univer- 
sity conducted some experiments upon cocker spaniel puppies, 
1896-1898, to determine the effect of alcohol upon them. He 
carefully controlled the experiments so that they would be as 
nearly free from error as possible. He came to the following 
conclusions : 

(1) On the side of general intelligence the alcoholic dogs were 
in nowise inferior to their mates. 

(2) The alcoholic dogs manifested extreme timidity when the 
others showed no signs of it. Commenting upon this charac- 
teristic Dr. Hodge said, “‘ Fear is commonly recognized as a 
characteristic feature in alcoholic insanity, and delirium tremens 
is the most terrible fear-psychosis known.”’’ 

(3) The reproductive capacity of the non-alcoholic dogs was 
much greater, and the viability of the progeny of the non- 
alcoholic dogs was go.2 per cent, while of the puppies of the alco- 
holic dogs it was 17.4 per cent.3 

The author, while admitting that the experiments were too 
few to serve as a basis for very definite general conclusions, says, 
“‘ Possibly the most important of our results relates to the vigor 
and normality of offspring.” 


1 Second Biennial Report of the State Hospital for Inebriates, Knoxville, Iowa, 
1908, p. 14; Jbid., 1912, p. 21. 

2 Billings, Physiological Aspects of the Liquor Problem, Vol. I, p. 341 sq. 

3 [bid., pp. 371-375. 


SOCIAL DEGENERATION 503 


These experiments were with dogs, not with human beings. 
An investigation by Demme, however, throws some light upon 
the human problem of degeneracy and alcohol. Demme found 
that in the progeny of to alcoholic families, 17 per cent were 
normal, the rest suffering either from physical deformities, 
idiocy, epilepsy, or early death, while in the 1o non-alcoholic 
families, 88.5 per cent were normal. Twenty-five out of 51 
children in the former families and only 3 out of 61 in the latter 
were non-viable. 

Degeneracy of other sorts is closely connected with intem- 
perance. Thus, Koren estimated 37 per cent of the pauperism 
in this country due directly or indirectly to drink! Devine 
says more than 16 per cent of pauperism is due directly to 
drink.2, Koren found intemperance the principal cause of crime 
in Over 21 per cent of 13,402 convicts investigated.2 Dugdale 
found that 45 per cent of 176 habitual criminals were from in- 
temperate families, and 42 per cent were habitual drunkards.4 
Sullivan estimates that 60 per cent of homicidal offenses in Eng- 
land and a slightly smaller percentage of crimes of lust are 
caused by alcohol.5 

The very close relation of alcoholism and degeneracy has often 
been remarked. Some writers think that their influence is 
reciprocal. Sometimes alcoholism is the result and at others 
the cause of degeneracy.® 

Goddard has recently reported on the most careful and exten- 
sive study yet made of feeblemindedness. He sums up an 
analysis of his inquiry as to the relation of alcohol to feeble- 
mindedness thus, ‘‘ It looks evident that alcohol almost doubles 
the number of feebleminded children in a family. But are we 
sure that alcohol is a cause and not merely a symptom?” He 
points out that while “ the percentages are very high for the 
feebleminded children of alcoholic parents and at first glance 
it appears that alcohol has greatly increased the number of 
feebleminded, yet the argument is not complete.” In these 


1 Koren, Economic Aspects of the Liquor Problem, p. 120. 

2 Devine, Misery and its Causes, p. 211. Cf. Lindsay’s 15 per cent plus in Pro- 
ceedings, National Conference of Charities and Correction, 1899, pp. 369 sq. 

3 Koren, Ibid. 

4 The Jukes, p. 187. 

6 Sullivan, Alcoholism, pp. 164-169. 

6 See Sullivan, Jd7d., p. 182, for remarks on this point. 


504. OUTLINES OF SOCIOLOGY 


investigations he properly points out they were dealing only 
with feebleminded children of alcoholics. To make the case 
complete, the normal children of alcoholic parents in otherwise 
normal families should be investigated. On the basis of his 
study he concludes that alcohol instead of being a cause of 
feeblemindedness, so far as his studies show, is simply a symp- 
tom of degeneracy, that it occurs for the most part ‘‘ in families 
where there is some form of neurotic taint, especially feeble- 
mindedness.” So far as the evidence goes on the influence of 
alcohol in producing physical degeneracy the findings are nega- 
tive. All we can say is that the evidence is not conclusive that 
the intemperate use of alcohol by drunken parents directly 
affects the germ plasm in such a way as to produce that form of 
degeneracy which we call feeblemindedness.! Goddard’s figures 
seem to show that some degeneracy is caused by drink; they 
do not make it absolutely certain. 

This conclusion leaves untouched the problem of whether 
alcohol in any way either directly or indirectly affects man’s 
relations to his fellows so that he becomes pseudo- or anti-social. 
Doubtless there are many cases where drink has induced pauper- 
ism. The wages or savings have been spent for drink. The 
family has come to want. Indirectly, doubtless, by inducing 
irregular habits of industry, inefficiency in industry and business, 
drink has contributed to dependency. The associations con- 
nected with the saloon have frequently been the means whereby 
the sturdy independence of the worker has been undermined 
and his descent to social parasitism has been started. 

The same is true with respect to alcohol’s relation to crimi- 
nality. Some crimes are incited by drink. Alcohol seems to 
paralyze the higher inhibitory brain centers and thereby favors 
the formation of habits clearly antisocial in their results. It 
seems to incite brutal and lustful passions at the same time that 
it perverts the judgment. Socially it seems to stimulate fellow- 
ship, for drinking is closely connected with the love of com- 
panionship. Nevertheless, really it makes for lawlessness and 
the breaking up of society into antagonistic groups, by its close 
alliance often, especially in temperance countries, with criminal 
groups. Alcohol is ever indissolubly linked up with antisocial 
and vicious activities. Without a doubt, from the standpoint 

1 Goddard, Feeblemindedness: Its Causes and Consequences, 1914, pp. 490-492. 


SOCIAL DEGENERATION 505 


of social degeneration, drunkenness bears a heavy share of 
responsibility. 

The Effect of Immorality.— Leading to sexual excesses, 
immorality saps the physical, intellectual, and vital strength of a 
community, thus dissipating the energy which ought to be used 
in social action. As society develops by the enlargement of 
activities on one hand and the accurate adjustment of its organs 
or parts on the other, immoral influences destroy normal func- 
tions and lead to decay. 

Immorality, while often it is bound up in a tangled skein 
with intemperance, is at least as fruitful a source of degeneracy 
as intemperance in the use of alcohol. This stands out in such 
degenerate families as those of the Jukes, the Rooneys, the 
Ishmaels, and the Zeros. Whether they are intemperate or not, 
they are usually immoral. They may not be criminals, but 
they are immoral. The most hideous thing about the awful 
stories of these families is the frightful depths to which they 
descend in their sexual relations. 

Immorality, considered as indiscriminate sexual relationships, 
operates to produce degeneracy through the spread of disease. 
Goddard found out of 40 children in what he calls the Heredi- 
tary Group of feebleminded, from 10 matings where the parents 
were syphilitic, 42.4 per cent were feebleminded, 4.9 per cent 
normal, 27.7 per cent died in infancy, and to per cent were mis- 
carriages. In this group, however, there was feeblemindedness 
in the parents. The terrific proportion of these children who 
died in infancy or miscarried — nearly two fifths — as com- 
pared with an average of 12.9 per cent of all classes of feeble- 
minded is significant.1. No conclusive study of the relation of 
syphilis to epilepsy has yet been made. It is suspected, how- 
ever, that they are closly connected. Recent studies in the Wis- 
consin Psychiatric Institute show that nearly a fifth of the male 
inmates of the Wisconsin Hospital for the Insane are insane 
because of syphilis. Goddard does not believe that syphilis is 
a potent cause of feeblemindedness, although he admits his 
cases do not prove that it is not. 

Moreover, the share of vice in producing human misery is 
appalling. To say nothing of the cost of treating those afflicted 
with the so-called social diseases and the loss of time and de- 


1[bid., pp. 494, 495; 518-521. 


506 OUTLINES OF SOCIOLOGY 


crease of physical and mental efficiency by the victims of these 
diseases, consider the unhappiness, domestic discord, and ruined 
homes incident to vice. The most important cause of divorce 
after desertion, which is a symptom rather than a cause and 
probably is usually preceded by unfaithfulness, is marital in- 
fidelity! There immorality strikes at the very foundation of 
social life. The family relations are broken up. The most 
important center for the development of helpful social relations — 
—the home —is destroyed. Children are thrown into new 
relationships and forced to new adjustments often with disaster 
to them. Instead of promoting social codrdination and that 
social control which makes for cohesion and social progress, 
there arises disorder through disregard of social bonds. Pauper- 
ism, crime, and vice flourish as the result. Society comes to lack 
that close-knit codrdination and orderly functioning which is 
necessary to social progress.” 

Hereditary Influences. — The influence of heredity on indi- 
vidual life has not yet been fully determined. The studies 
already made indicate that through physical heredity one gen- 
eration influences the next to a great extent. Disease is prob- 
ably not transmitted from parent to offspring, but the charac- 
teristics of physical structure conducive to the development of 
the disease are probably handed down from generation to genera- 
tion through the germ plasm. It may even happen that certain 
poisons may so affect the somatoplasm and the germ plasm of 
the parent, that the germ plasm has less resistance to that 
poison, such as alcohol, for example, in a future generation. 
The consensus of opinion among biologists and pathologists 
to-day is that disease germs as such cannot be transmitted 
through the germ plasm from parent to child.* Recent studies 
have supplied some evidence to show that one thing which is 
probably invariably inherited according to the Mendelian law 
is feeblemindedness.* If so, then the presence of that defect 
in the stock tends to social degeneration, for the feebleminded 
are unable to perform their social duties and thus the social 
group is injured and progress is by so much impeded. It is also 


1Census Bulletin, No. 96: On Marriage and Divorce, 1908, p. 13. 

2 Warner, American Charities, Rev. Ed., 1908, pp. 81-90. 

8 Walter, Genetics, 1914, pp. 92-04. 

4 Goddard, Feeblemindedness : Its Causes and Consequences, 1914, Chap. VIII. 


SOCIAL DEGENERATION 507 


true that many old families like the Edwards, or the Dwights, 
show the perpetuation of a strong, vigorous stock, mentally and 
physically, and also show an increase in social adaptation and 
influence. 

Examples, however, like that of the Jukes family,! the Smoky 
Pilgrims, or the Tribe of Ishmael, show how disease, vice, and 
crime may be transmitted socially from generation to genera- 
tion, for the transmission of social characteristics comes through 
early contact, training, and environment. If a family group 
is criminal and vicious their children are liable to be the same 
through early association. Certain it is that not only families, 
but whole communities, become weakened and degenerate, grow- 
ing worse from generation to generation — an evolution down- 
ward so to speak — by reason of a bad social heritage of customs, 
ideals, traditions, etc., which are socially disintegrating. It 
thus sometimes happens that a hardy stock or race gradually 
declines, degenerates, and even becomes extinct on account of 
the failure to receive and use accumulated social achievements. 
To such as these Lowell refers in his “ Interview with Miles 
Standish ”’: 


“They talk about their Pilgrim blood, 
Their birthright high and holy! 
A mountain stream that ends in mud 
Methinks is melancholy.” 


However, just to the extent that we ward off disease and develop 
a higher degree of physical and mental life, to that extent will 
social life be improved, for a high type of social life comes essen- 
tially from the association of high-grade normal individuals. 
While the two kinds of inheritance — inheritance through 
the physical transmission of characteristics by means of the 
germ plasm, and the transmission from one generation to an- 
other by social means of communication, example, ideals, etc., 
of the mental and social possessions must be kept clearly sepa- 
rated in our thought, yet both work together in the process of 
evolution and of degeneration. Poor physique, poor mentality 
biologically transmitted, bears very directly upon the kind of 
social product in the way of ideals, customs, traditions govern- 


1 These are studies in social degeneration, The Jukes, by Dugdale, The Smoky 
Pilgrims, by Blackmar, and The Tribe of Ishmael, by McCulloch. 


508 OUTLINES OF SOCIOLOGY 


ing men’s relations with each other which a group will furnish 
and use. The feebleminded, the insane, the epileptic, and the 
neuropathic do not make good members of society, but on the 
contrary contribute to its stock elements which are unable to 
associate together in any helpful and constructive way. They 
add to the social burden which society must bear —a very 
costly burden upon the labor and thought of the social. More- 
over, they contribute directly to the pauper and criminal classes 
which set up ideals and generate customs and habits which eat 
like a canker into the very vitals of society. 

On the other hand, there is an increasing amount of evidence 
that social conditions have a great deal to do with the produc- 
tion of physical and mental weakness. We know that bad 
housing conditions, poverty, bad habits and customs, unsanitary 
factories and dwellings, and social neglect of certain poisons 
break down the physical efficiency of people, destroy ideals of 
correct home life, cut the root of ambition and of hope, divide 
society into suspicious and warring classes, put a strain upon 
the minds of some which ends in insanity and makes impossible 
the realization of ideals of cleanliness and health. Whether 
these conditions affect the germ plasm by which some forms of 
degeneracy like feeblemindedness are transmitted we do not 
know, but the fact that this defect and bad social conditions 
are so often found together, and the further fact that these 
conditions reduce the physical efficiency of people both phys- 
ically and mentally, lead to the natural presumption that they 
may also affect the germ plasm and thus cause defect. That, 
however, remains to be determined. 

The Non-social Being. — There are survivals of the wolfish 
disposition in men. This disposition manifests itself more in 
the attempt of the individual to associate on his own terms 
with his fellows rather than in refusal to associate. The preda- 
tory instinct is evinced to a high degree in many members of 
society. It is a survival into modern society of the barbaric 
‘‘ passion for domination,” as Mallock has called it. Very few, 
if any, however, reach such an unsocial condition that they 
are willing to have society destroyed and all social intercourse 
cease. They lack the wide social interest which considers the 
welfare of all the people in the group. They form groups within 


1See Warner, A merican Charities, Rev. Ed., 1908, pp. 66-90 and Chap. IV. 


SOCIAL DEGENERATION 5°09 


society. Such social degeneration is exemplified by the societies 
of beggars, criminals, and predatory exploiters of the people 
who mask under the guise of legality in their financial operations. 
They are social within their own little group; they are anti- 
social when the whole society of which they are naturally a part 
is considered. Thus, there are very many individuals who fail 
to perform their social part in a community, either through 
weakness or viciousness. And wherever each individual fails 
in this respect society is rendered degenerate. 

Social Causes of Degeneration.— When discussing the in- 
fluence of individual degeneracy in producing social degenera- 
tion it was suggested that anything that breaks down the work- 
ings of the social organism or renders ineffective the social 
machinery leads directly to degeneration. We have very many 
causes that work to destroy normal social action. They may 
do nothing more than retard progress in general, though they 
may so seriously affect organs as to eventually destroy the whole 
group. An example is furnished by the effect of accidents on 
the adjustment of social relations in industrial life through 
dangerous occupations. The explosion in a mine may kill a 
hundred people and thus destroy the earning capacity of a hun- 
dred families. These families may resort to various expedients 
for support, but there can never be the independent, normal, 
social life that existed before. Homes are broken, individuals 
die through want or excessive toil, others become sick and hope- 
less, and some go down to vice or crime. Society may push on 
through normal agencies and overcome the evil effects arising 
from such accidents, but the social maladjustment thus en- 
gendered must be overcome or society will perish. A hundred 
cases similar to this, like the influence of disease from social 
groupings, unsanitary surroundings, improper employment of 
men, women, and children, enforced idleness through the shift- 
ing of industrial life, and conditions which produce a high death 
rate, all have a decided effect in producing social degeneration. 
If all such defects should be massed at a given time, and also 
vital causes should arise through lack of the food supply, a 
community must grow weaker and weaker until there is no social 
feeling, thought, or will power, no social codperation. The same 
effect is produced if the sum total of social maladjustment, 
though scattered over long periods of time, has a cumulative 


510 OUTLINES OF SOCIOLOGY 


effect, so impoverishing the normally social individuals with the 
burden of taxation necessary to support the defective and delin- 
quent, or of so burdening them with social duties made heavy 
because some refuse or are unable to bear them. 

Social Types. — Each social group has its own type which 
determines its degree of progress. The ideal of such a social 
group is ever above the average of what is actually achieved. 
Through the momentum of social forces this ideal gradually 
changes and consequently the social type varies from one period 
to another. Whenever the agencies which are at work to main- 
tain the social standard or to improve the environment cease 
to act, the social life reverts to the old type, and the acquired 
characteristics of generations disappear. This may occur by 
the loss of the proper ideal or the failure to put forth sufficient 
will power to approximate. the ideal. Luxury, idleness, or 
shiftlessness destroys the thinking and working forces of society 
and causes it to lose its acquired characteristics. 

Separate groups have widely different views of the right and 
wrong of social action and put in practice far different social 
usages. The ideals of the Bantu negroes, the Thlinklets, the 
Ainu, and the Sioux are very different and their social types 
vary, and yet how widely different is any one of these from the 
social ideal and practice of the civilized American. Degenera- 
tion is a breakdown of not only the social ideals of the group, 
but of the typical social relationships already achieved. What 
would be social degeneration for a highly civilized people might 
represent advancement of a tribe of Sioux Indians. 

The Survival of Society. — The hope of society consists in 
making the social relationships ever more complex and more 
closely codrdinated. But in order to accomplish this it is neces- 
sary to bring each succeeding generation into ever increasing 
control of the accumulated products of civilization. In the 
general order of society the fit must be given ample opportunity 
to demonstrate their strength and the unfit must be gradually 
eliminated. But the elimination of the unfit is a social process 
and refers not so much to individuals as to characteristics. It 
is therefore essential that the strong should protect the weak 
and give them an opportunity to overcome their weakness. 
While protecting the weak, nevertheless, society must take 
measures to make certain that their weakness is not transmitted 


SOCIAL DEGENERATION 511 


from generation to generation. In the case of defectives, for 
example, who transmit their defect by reproduction, they must 
be segregated or be so treated otherwise that they cannot pro- 
duce their kind. The criminals must be put apart where their 
bad example and influence cannot contaminate others. The 
whole community must therefore be trained in industry, sani- 
tation, domestic habits, and social life in order to perpetuate its 
normal growth. Vice and crime must be suppressed, poverty 
relieved, and pauperism prevented. More than this, all must be 
given the advantages of an education which will fit them for 
an honest, independent individual life and prepare them for 
their social duties. Society thus has the power, through the 
selection of ideals and types and the ordering of social activities, 
to perpetuate itself. The strong must give opportunities of 
improvement to the weak and teach the weak to use them to 
their best advantage. This must be done constantly because 
there is no state of automatic society running from generation 
to generation. The nearest approach to a social continuum 
corresponding to the germ plasm in the body consists of the 
traditions, customs, and ideals of a society. They, however, 
seem to be very much more easily affected both for ill and for good 
than the biological bearer of physical characteristics, the germ 
plasm. All efforts for the improvement of society must be as 
perpetual as the taking of food for the nourishment of the body. 
Society’s work is never finished because society itself is never 
completed. The hopeful part of it is that while acquired physi- 
cal characteristics cannot be transmitted by heredity, acquired 
social qualities, ideals, traditions, and customs are the major 
part of our social heritage. | 


REFERENCES 


Booty, CHARLES. Labor and Life of the People of London. 

DARWIN, CHARLES. Descent of Man. 

Extwoop, C. A. The Social Problem, Chap. I. 

Ety, R. T. “Social Progress and Race Improvement,” in Evolution of 
Industrial Society. 

GopDARD, Henry H._ Feeblemindedness; Its Causes and Consequences, 
1914, Chaps. I, IX, X. 

PATTEN, SIMON N. Heredity and Soctal Progress. 

PEARSON, Karu. WNational Life from the Standpoint of Science, pp. 14-34, 
41-57. 

Ross, E. A. Social Control, Chaps. XXV-XXVII. 


512 OUTLINES OF SOCIOLOGY 


Warp, LESTER F. Pure Sociology, p. 227. 
WARNER, Amos G. American Charities, Rev. Ed., 1908, Chaps. III and IV. 
WEISMANN, A. Y. L. Studies in the Theory of Descent. 


QUESTIONS AND EXERCISES 


1. Criticize the definition of social degeneration given in the text by formu- 
lating a better and giving reasons for the points of difference. 

2. Distinguish between social degeneration and individual degeneracy. 

3. Pick out one case of degeneracy in an individual and trace its history, 
seeking to find out the causes, its heritability, and some of its social conse- 
quences, like drunkenness, illegitimacy, disease, etc. 

4. Show how, even if intemperance cannot be inherited, the use of alco- 
hol to excess produces social degeneration. 

5. State the objections to sterilization of degenerate persons. 

6. Give the arguments in favor of that method of treating degenerates. 

7. What other methods can be suggested to adequately deal with the 
problem of such a degeneracy as feeblemindedness, if, as recently stated by 
the Vineland, New Jersey, authorities, there are thirty thousand such in New 
York, eighteen thousand in Pennsylvania, fourteen thousand in Massachu- 
setts, over nine thousand in Michigan, and eight thousand (estimated) in 
New Jersey? 

8. Why should not degenerates be kept in poorhouses ? 

9. Why should they not be left at large in the families of the country? 

10. Suggest a plan by which marriage laws might be made to prevent the 
spread of degeneracy. 

11. What is a moron? What is the danger of having him at large in 
society ? 


CHAPTER VI 


THE ADMINISTRATION OF CHARITABLE AND COR- 
RECTIONAL AFFAIRS 


Necessity of Care. — The foregoing chapter makes clear how 
necessary it is that the strong and normal should care for the 
weak and the abnormal. But to do this in such a way as to 
increase the strength and sanity of society requires great skill. 
If it were merely an individual matter, the unfit would probably 
be weeded out by natural selection in the struggle for existence. 
But in society it is impossible to permit natural selection to do 
its work in the old brutal fashion and at the same time preserve 
our sentiments of pity for the weak — sentiments produced in 
the course of hundreds of generations. It is impossible for the 
same reason to apply a stern method of social selection which 
would eliminate the socially unfit. It is neither possible nor 
desirable to behead people who are unfit for codperative life, or 
even to commit them to a painless lethal chamber. Hence, all 
that society can do is to endeavor to make people fit for social 
life and to prevent the increase of unfitness. There is less 
objection to measures which would insure the dying out of a 
degenerate stock like the feebleminded or the insane, although 
voices are raised against even such suggestions. In doing this, 
great care must be taken that the weak and the vicious are not 
perpetuated, and also that they do not become a burden to the 
strong whose vitality might thereby be sapped. 

The reformation of the reformable is highly desirable. So 
costly is it to raise a human being that society can ill afford to 
destroy one of whom there is any hope. We find it difficult, 
however, to train even normal people into good social usage. 
It is far more difficult to train the abnormal. Greater care is 
needed, therefore, to train those who are educable and to care- 

2L EY 


514 OUTLINES OF SOCIOLOGY 


fully segregate and care for those who are not, for the sake of 
society as a whole. Because of the lack of scientific care in the 
treatment of the weak and the vicious, crime, insanity, epilepsy, 
pauperism, and degeneracy are increased. 

Methods of Administration. — Charitable and correctional 
institutions may be classified in two general divisions, namely, 
private charities and public charities. The care of the poor 
was for a long time left to private charitable agencies. Gradu- 
ally, however, it has come to be recognized as a part of the duties 
of the state. In other words, society is conscious that all its 
members should be responsible for the care of the few weaker 
ones. “So also in the early history of society crime was a per- 
sonal matter and individuals were allowed to punish those who 
wronged them, or, in case of death, the relatives of the deceased 
were bound to pursue the murderer and destroy him. Gradually, 
however, it became the duty of the state to punish criminals. 
To-day the hand of the individual is restrained by law from 
punishing those who wrong him. On the other hand, he has 
the right to demand that the state protect him and his property 
and punish all offenders. In like manner gradually it is coming 
to be seen that both relief and correction, not in alleviation and 
repression alone, but also in the doing of constructive remedial 
work as well as providing preventive agencies, must come under 
the management of public authorities as fast as private agencies 
by experiment point the way in which it may best be done. 
There is need of the private agency, but to assert that it is im- 
possible for public relief agencies to command the men, means, 
and methods necessary to do the needed work is a counsel of 
despair which democracy is not ready to accept. Each type of 
work has its peculiar advantages and drawbacks. Each has its 
field of work. Each must supplement the work of the other. 

So far as charity is concerned, private administration has the 
advantage of sympathy, enthusiasm, and independent action, 
but it lacks unity and comprehensiveness. Public charities, on 
the other hand, have the advantage of complete supervision 
within a given territory, and are always open to public inspec- 
tion. Their dangers are failure to get full return for the money 
expended and the interference of politicians in work which can 
be well done only by experts. Public charities, being supported 
by taxation, have a more stable income than most private 


CHARITABLE AND CORRECTIONAL AFFAIRS 515 


charities which are dependent upon the contributions of indi- 
viduals. Nevertheless, there is frequently more humanity in 
the private charity than in the public, which is liable to become 
a cold, formal machine of administration. Private charity can 
attempt more experiments than public. Its constituency is 
smaller, more compact, probably more intelligent as to needs 
and methods to meet those needs. It can respond more quickly 
toanemergency. Public charity is less scientific, more wasteful, 
and less efficient. These shortcomings, however, are not in- 
herent, but are incidental to the lack of an enlightened public 
opinion. What is needed is more public interest in the care 
of the poor, and a general appreciation of the relation of poverty 
to social welfare. Does any one doubt that if the general public 
were as well informed as to the ideals and methods of proper 
relief of the needy as the small body of constituents of the 
private organization, the public could do it as well as the private 
organization? ‘The probabilities are that it would do the job 
much better. 

Methods of Public Administration.— There are various 
methods of public administration of charities and correction 
which have risen largely under different conditions. The states 
have, therefore, different laws and varying methods of pro- 
cedure. Some states have a separate board for each institu- 
tion, leaving the oversight to the legislature, which usually 
commits it to a special committee to visit the institution and 
report. A state board of charities, with supervisory powers, 
each institution having a local board, is also quite common. 
In a few states, such as Wisconsin, Iowa, and Minnesota, has 
been established a state board of control which manages all 
the charitable and penal institutions. In these cases there 
usually is no supervising body aside from the board of control. 
In Kansas a board of control has charge of all charitable in- 
stitutions, but the penitentiary and industrial reformatory are 
each under separate boards. 

While the state board of control represents the most com- 
plete method of supervision, it is in danger of the formality of 
machinery, and lacks the independent judgment as to how ad- 
ministration might be made better afforded by a board of state 
charities purely advisory in its capacity. On the other hand, 
the state board of charities that visits, inspects, and has ad- 


516 OUTLINES OF SOCIOLOGY 


visory powers only, is usually more progressive in the determina- 
tion of the best systems of conducting charitable institutions 
and in the scientific care of the unfortunate. In the latter case 
usually the penal institutions are conducted by a separate 
management. However, the state board of control as instituted 
in Wisconsin, Iowa, Minnesota, and Kansas is growing in favor 
in the West. 

In Massachusetts there is a state board or commission on 
lunacy, which has special supervision over all the insane, 
epileptics, and weak-minded. There is supposed to be some 
advantage in having a special board for a specific institution 
or group of institutions. It is claimed that it gives an op- 
portunity for members of the board to become proficient in 
a given line. Moreover, it is claimed that when a single board 
attempts to manage all the charitable and penal institutions 
of a large state, while its administration may be perfect, it is 
in danger of failing to understand all the institutions under its 
control, and therefore the best methods of caring for the wards of 
the state are not obtained. On the other hand, it is held that 
when a board is provided for such institution, the members 
usually do not give all their time to the work and therefore the 
management of the institution falls naturally into the hands of 
the paid superintendents, as the experience of Iowa has shown.! 
There is the further difficulty that each institution endeavors 
to obtain from the legislature more than its just share of the 
state’s money without regard to the needs of the other institu- 
tions of similar character. The legislature has neither the time 
nor experience necessary to judge between these claims. A 
state board of some kind is needed to study the whole situation, 
make recommendations to the legislature, and thus secure an 
orderly and symmetrical development of the state’s charitable 
and correctional institutions in accordance with the just 
needs of each institution. It has been suggested that the 
penal institutions of a state should constitute one group; 
the charitable institutions, such as care for orphans, insane, 
epileptics, and imbeciles, another group under a separate 
supervision. Schools for the blind and the deaf and dumb should 
be placed under the department of public instruction. In this 
way the state would not be burdened with the multiplicity of 


1 See Gillin, A History of Poor Relief Legislation in Iowa, 1914, Chap. XVII. 


CHARITABLE AND CORRECTIONAL AFFAIRS 517 


boards and the work would be subdivided so as to produce the 
best results. Where the population of the state is large and 
the number of charitable and correctional institutions grows, 
some such division of labor is best. On the other hand, in a 
state with but few institutions a paid board of members devoting 
all their time to the institutions seems to be best. 

Segregation of Wards of the State into Separate Institutions. 
— The first important thing in dealing with dependents and 
delinquents is a careful segregation of these in different institu- 
tions. There should be a penitentiary for the hardened crimi- 
nals, a reformatory for younger criminals susceptible to reform, 
and industrial schools for incorrigible boys and girls. Great 
care should be exercised in sending each individual to the 
proper institution. While this general plan is being carried 
out in the United States, there is much neglect in specific in- 
stances of the proper classification. Often insane are kept in 
county poorhouses or sent to prison, and epileptics are found in 
insane asylums and institutions for the feeble-minded. Some- 
times this is due to lack of adequate provision for one or more of 
these classes. Often it is due to failure to apply scientific tests 
to determine to which class a person belongs. ‘The epileptics, 
the insane, the feeble-minded, and the habitual drunkards 
should be treated in separate institutions. The modern alms- 
house or county poor farm often has no classification whatever. 
There we find the pauper, the victim of misfortune, the imbecile, 
the insane, the epileptic, the criminal, and sometimes those 
afflicted with chronic diseases. By careful classification each 
one could be helped in accordance with his specific needs, and 
much time and money saved. From the standpoint of the social 
welfare the placing of young offenders with old criminals in the 
jail or penitentiary is utterly inexcusable. Next to it is the col- 
lection of broken parcels of humanity in the county almshouse. 
The mingling of the insane and epileptics in the same institu- 
tion is a palpable error. The first principle of good adminis- 
tration is classification. Each individual must be treated 
according to his characteristics as well as his needs. Men can- 
not be reformed in phalanxes, much less in a heterogeneous 
mass. 

The Classification of Inmates. — Classification should extend 
further. The inmates of each institution should be classified 


518 OUTLINES OF SOCIOLOGY 


according to sex, age, health, temperament, habits, etc. Good 
or evil may arise from association in any of these institutions. 
Only those should be thrown together who are mutually helpful, 
or at least those who are not mutually harmful. As man is 
a social being, it is useless to ignore the helpfulness of proper 
association. Human beings of the unfortunate classes, or those 
of a vicious character may be made to help each other, if the 
proper classification and the right method be used. For example, 
it has been found that in many cases feeble-minded women take 
great pleasure in caring for the young children in the institution. 
So a careful study of the different people in a poorhouse often 
will enable the authorities to put people together who are con- 
genial in their tastes and habits. Mrs. Coolidge reports that 
the matron of the San Francisco almshouse for women con- 
trived to solve the problem of bad snorers by ingeniously putting 
them with deaf persons.! 

The Merit System among Employees and Officials. — Appoint- 
ment of officers and attendants should be made with the greatest 
of care as to the fitness of the applicant. The using of positions 
in the charitable and penal institutions as rewards for party 
workers is extremely pernicious. Men who have served their 
party must have a place, or they have friends who must have 
positions as rewards for such service. The world is full of 
‘““ hungry incapacity ” seeking an office, and many appointees to 
public service are “‘ mere pegs to hang an office on.” Men 
or boards with appointive power are besieged by this class, and 
it requires great skill, patience, and courage to secure the right 
person for the right place. 

Civil service has its advantages as a means of securing efficient 
servants of the people. Civil service, however, is not an auto- 
matic process by which capable officials are secured; it is only 
a method which may be useful if great care be exercised. The 
merit system should have much flexibility, and if the appointing 
power is intelligent and conscientious and brave enough to resist 
political pressure, it is usually better than the hard and fast rules 
of a formal civil service system. Since these qualities are often 
lacking in the high officials, civil service has been found a de- 
fense — perhaps a rather poor one — to prevent the institutions 
from being delivered over to the tender mercies of the politicians. 


1 Warner, American Charities, Rev. Ed., p. 217 n. 


CHARITABLE AND CORRECTIONAL AFFAIRS 519 


In actual practice the heads of the institutions and of the boards 
are usually appointed, while the subordinates are chosen from 
the civil service lists. 

But it is preposterous to make sweeping changes in officials 
and attendants every two years as the party in power changes, 
as has been done in some instances. The best economy is to 
find the best officials that can be had anywhere for the positions, 
and to keep them as long as they are the best. After all, it 
depends upon the character of the men in the business, whether 
a high degree of success is possible or not. 

The public administration of charities is of great importance 
to the welfare of society in general. For if the dependent, de- 
linquent, and defective classes are not well cared for, either 
within institutions or without, there is a tendency to increase 
the number of the defective and criminal classes. This makes 
society more abnormal and adds to its burdens. The enormous 
sums spent for the care of the weak and the vicious cannot be 
justified unless the world grows better thereby. The socially 
constructive point of view must dominate all charitable and 
penal affairs, or we but add to the misery and degradation by 
our: efforts to care for the helpless. It would be better to let 
nature take her course in weeding out the unfit than through 
improper methods and defective administration to increase 
and perpetuate a stock of degenerates. 


REFERENCES 


Brackmar, F. W. “State Supervision and Administration,” Proceedings of 
the National Conference of Charities and Correction, 1903, pp. 358-366. 

Crarkx, A.W. Proceedings of the National Conference of Charities and 
Correction, 1904, pp. 180-187. 

HEBBERD, R. W., and Stewart, W.R. Proceedings of the National Con- 
ference of Charities and Correction, 1907, pp. 18-23. 

HENDERSON, C. R. Modern Methods of Charity, pp. 407-413; Dependents, 
Defectives, and Delinquents, Rev. Ed., 1901, pp. 202-209. 

SCANLAN, M. J. Proceedings, National Conference of Charities and Correc- 
tion, 1905, pp. 167-179. 

Warner, Amos G. American Charities, Rev. Ed., 1908, Chap. XVIII. 


520 OUTLINES OF SOCIOLOGY 


QUESTIONS AND EXERCISES 


1. What would be the effect upon normal society if the number of depend- 
ents were multiplied fourfold? 

2. Why is it not cheaper to allow the poor to get along as they may and 
relief to be given as any one wishes to have it done rather than to have super- 
vision ? 

3. Outline the method of supervision practiced in your state by public 
authorities with reference to the public charities and the correctional insti- 
tutions. With reference to the private charities. 

4. Outline clearly the scheme of a state board of supervision, or, as it is 
commonly called, a board of state charities. Of a board of control. What 
is the essential difference between the two plans ? 

5. Give arguments in favor of each of the two systems. 

6. What arguments can be advanced in favor of the supervision of pri- 
vate charities by public authorities? Against it? 

7. What classification is possible in your state of the defective, dependent, 
and delinquent classes? State the reasons why they should be cared for in 
separate institutions. 

8. What classification of inmates is practiced in your insane asylums? 
In the jails of your state? In the poorhouses of your county? 

g. State the reasons in favor of careful classification of inmates of insti- 
tutions. 


PART SIX 
METHODS OF SOCIAL INVESTIGATION 


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CHAPTER I 


THE FIELD OF INVESTIGATION 


Human Society. — The field of sociological investigation is 
very broad, covering the phenomena of human society, i.e. of 
human association. The laboratory method involving the 
same principles as those used in the physical sciences in this 
field is exceedingly difficult to apply. Human society cannot 
be controlled for study as a frog, an insect, or a plant. For- 
tunately, in studying society the microscope and the telescope 
are not needed. The sociologist’s laboratory is the world of 
men and women in their social relations. These, however, 
he must carefully and patiently observe under all kinds of 
changing circumstances.! He must observe and recount the 
facts of society, classify them in proper categories and on the 
basis of careful comparisons thus made possible draw generali- 
zations. Therefore, the student should begin early to make 
observation of the character of social structure and movements. 
Wherever people are associated there will appear facts of social 
relations to be observed and classified. 

But in this only certain phenomena should be observed. We 
are concerned only with the social relationships which produce 
association or grow out of association. The human relationships 
which arise in response to a special set of motives, like the 
economic, is the business of the economist, those arising from 
the political motive, of the political scientist, but those funda- 
mental facts of association, the processes by which society 
develops from one stage to another and the groupings and their 
causes which operated previous to special motives, belong to 
the field of sociology. While all society may be its field of 
operation, sociology seeks only certain facts of society which 

1 Giddings, Inductive Sociology, Chap. I. An application of scientific method in 
the treatment of social phenomena is illustrated in an address by Giddings on ‘‘The 
Social Marking System,” delivered before the American Sociological Society in 
New York. See Publications of the American Sociological Society, Vol. IV, 1900, 
p. 42. 

523 


524 OUTLINES OF SOCIOLOGY 


pertain to its scope as a science. The boundary of the science 
indicates the kind of facts that may be useful for its purpose. 
There are phases of ethics, politics, and economics which, al- 
though they are social, do not come within the special province 
of sociological investigation, but belong to their respective 
sciences. But when necessary for its purpose, sociology may 
consider the same phenomena as other social sciences in a dif- 
ferent way and for a different purpose, just as biology uses 
certain facts in the fields of plant life and animal life as the 
raw materials of its broader generalizations. 

The Use of the Library.— A well-selected library is ab- 
solutely essential for well-directed investigation, for the student 
must know what others have accomplished and recorded before 
he can succeed in the field of practical investigation. While 
one might begin to investigate the facts of society by personal 
observation, nevertheless it would be idle not to profit by the 
experience of others. He will want to know their methods that 
he may not experiment with methods already proven useless. 
He will not wish to waste time on problems solved by others. 
Hence, the facts that have been gathered, classified, and re- 
corded and the principles which have been established through 
the use of these facts call for thorough library research. 

The reports of government departments and commissions, 
such as the Interstate Commerce Commission, the Census 
Bureau, the United States Bureau of Labor, the Department 
of Commerce and Labor, and the various state commissions on 
railroads, labor, charities, and correction, as well as numerous 
reports of special investigations, such as those of the industrial 
commission, represent to a certain extent the field of investiga- 
tion. The results of the investigation of such men as Spencer, 
Darwin, Huxley, and others are invaluable to the student. 
Not less valuable, from a sociological standpoint, are the stand- 
ard writers on sociology, such as De Greef, Ward, Tarde, Gum- 
plowicz, Small, Ross, Giddings, Thomas, Simmel, Ratzenhofer, 
Tonnies, and others. 

It is necessary for the student to distinguish between the facts 
of society and the theories about society, and to classify sources 
and authorities as primary and secondary. For one of the first 
principles of sociology is to learn to estimate values. As soon 
as the student begins to follow the text and the lecture course 


THE FIELD OF INVESTIGATION 525 


with collateral reading, he should be given some specific subject 
to follow out in the library and to report on it. These subjects 
should be selected at first with a view to giving the student 
practice in the methods of investigation rather than to adding 
to the sum of human knowledge. There are thousands of topics 
suggested by writers and investigators which have not been 
worked out carefully, and which present a fruitful field of in- 
vestigation for the student. 

Field Work. — But the social investigator must go beyond 
the library. Just as the chemist must experiment in his 
laboratory, the geologist reconnoiter the earth, or the biologist 
study the forms of life, so sociologists must enter and study 
society at first hand. It must, however, be a process of observa- 
tion rather than of experimentation. 

While many general social problems seem to baffle every 
effort to bring them under scientific methods, there are many 
which await only the investigator of insight and resource. The 
patient gathering of facts concerning the social life and activi- 
ties of the backward nature-peoples has gone on apace. Begun 
by Spencer in his encyclopedic, but rather one-sided, Descrip- 
tive Sociology, the collection of ethnographic and sociological 
material since his time has gone on with startling rapidity. 
Observation of social life among various peoples is gradually be- 
ing made with increasing care and scientific precision. While 
still much remains to be done in gathering such material and 
verifying reports of previous observers in that field, the major 
task remains of carefully digesting for sociology the mass of 
information already secured. Aside from this formal side of 
social structure and process, there remains the great field of 
social psychology. The ground in this field has been cleared by 
the psychologists and the social psychologists. There remains 
the task of devising methods by which the data in this field 
can be carefully gathered and treated by scientific methods on 
a large scale. Sociologists cultivating this field need to apply 
more vigorously the scientific method to the now chaotic and 
seemingly unmanageable mass of material in the realm of 
social motive. The field has been roughly charted, and the 
categories suggested. What is needed now is a regiment of 
workers to scientifically control the wealth of material, to classify 
and to interpret it. 


526 OUTLINES OF SOCIOLOGY 


The problems awaiting solution are many and varied. Such 
problems as whether the tall, the dark-haired, dark-eyed mem- 
bers of one sex choose the short, light-haired, blue-eyed of the 
other sex for mates, and if they do, whether they do so instinc- 
tively or from social motives; whether the motive which leads 
people from the country to the city is social or economic or both, 
and if the motives are mixed, which is dominant; whether the 
basis of social choice is a biological, or a sociological factor 
await the sociologist. We need careful statistical work in the 
field of social theory. In the field of applied sociology we need 
less theorizing on the basis of individual observation and more 
careful gathering of facts in order that we may be more certain 
of our generalizations. We prate about the causes of poverty, 
for example, when as a matter of fact we do not know even its 
extent. As for causes we are in the midst of a somewhat heated 
dispute as to whether drunkenness is a cause of poverty or 
poverty a cause of drunkenness. Which is cause and which 
effect? Is each now cause, and now effect? Or are both 
caused by nervous instability? ‘These are questions about which 
we can debate until doomsday without result unless we get 
more facts. In this and many other fields of social life, they 
wait for the patient scholar to gather and interpret them. 

In general there are two separate lines of work or divisions of 
the subject for investigation, namely those which tend to show 
the normal development of society and those which have for their 
purpose the determination of abnormal conditions. In the 
former the phases of codperate social life, as found in industry, 
the church, education, the family, and social life in general, 
represent the field of research. The study of a rural district, 
of a mining town, of a large manufacturing plant, including all 
forms of the labor and life of the people, are examples of studies 
of normal types of social action. On the other hand, the search 
for the defects of society, with a view to their correction, is of 
great value. The pathological condition of different classes of 
labor, such as miners, laborers in factories, clerks in stores, farm 
laborers, and kitchen help, should be studied. Care should 
be taken to inquire into the housing of the poor, methods of 
employment, and the various evil influences of promiscuous 
drinking saloons and of the liquor traffic in general. The evil 
influences of the herding of boys together without proper supervi- 


THE FIELD OF INVESTIGATION 527 


sion, the conditions of jails and lockups, the social life of our public 
schools, truancy, and a hundred other questions involving social 
problems, furnish fields of social investigation in the other field. 

The aim of social investigation is, first, to furnish exact knowl- 
edge of conditions and, second, to provide means of remedying 
evil conditions so that social life may be improved. To this 
end the student should acquaint himself with all the special 
movements like social settlements, children’s home-finding 
societies, local charity organizations, industrial schools, free 
kindergartens, and other similar movements that tend to better 
the condition of human society. One of the primary purposes 
of investigation to the young student of sociology, however, is 
to vitalize his work. Human society being his laboratory, 
his knowledge from books should be a guide to his actions, 
furnish a normal standard of life and normal types of social 
institutions. But since library work without practical observa- 
tion has a tendency to give students unreal conceptions of life, 
some study of actual social conditions is needed to vitalize one’s 
knowledge gained from books and lectures. 

But the more mature sociologist must extend his work much 
farther than this and with a more definite object. He must 
secure accurate data to verify his hypotheses. He is forced to 
determine the form, structure, and operations of society by 
actual observation. Having obtained sufficient data of this 
nature, he is prepared to classify, combine, and generalize, and 
thus obtain general principles of sociology. Without this he 
cannot establish a science. 

The Data of Other Sciences. — The sociologist will be free to 
use any data relating to the origin, growth, processes, motives, 
and structures of society which will answer his purpose of in- 
vestigation. While sociology is an independent science with a 
special field of work, the data and the generalizations of other 
sciences may be of great assistance. A large amount of material 
obtained from biology, anthropology, economics, ethics, history, 
and psychology must be worked over by the sociologist to 
enable him to reach his conclusions. For example, some of 
the conclusions drawn by prehistoric archeology, for instance 
that the Swiss Lake Dwellers probably had bridles for horses 
and therefore we know had domesticated them, throw light upon 
the origins of social life and codperative activities. Or that 


528 OUTLINES OF SOCIOLOGY 


feeblemindedness is inherited according to the Mendelian Law, 
should such a fact be firmly established, would enter at once into 
the presuppositions of sociology and into consideration in the 
formation of any theory of social degeneration. This opens 
up a wide field of research and puts the investigator in the atti- 
tude of a generalizer of the knowledge of human relationships. 
But one must not infer from this that sociology includes all 
social sciences, nor is it made up of a synthesis of them, nor is it 
a general amalgamation of the results of other social sciences. 
Sociology no more includes all the social sciences than architec- 
ture includes metallurgy, geology, physics, and chemistry. 
Sociology is no more an amalgamation of the results of other 
social sciences like economics, political science, and _ history, 
than landscape art is made up of botany, civil engineering, and 
agriculture. The data of other sciences, however, are used by 
the sociologist for his specific purposes. 


REFERENCES 


BLACKMAR, F. W. The Study of History, Sociology, and Economics. 

KELLOR, FRANCES. Experimental Sociology. 

Grppincs, F. H. Inductive Sociology; Sociology, New York, 1909, pp. 21- 
25\°36--36. 

Mayo-SMitH, RICHMOND. Statistics and Sociology. 

SMALL, A. W. Methodology in Sociology; Sociology as Social Science. 


QUESTIONS AND EXERCISES 


1. List the subjects which might be investigated in your own commu- 
nity which are strictly sociological in their nature. 

2. Show that while the investigation of the motives which lead to a par- 
ticular sort of activities among men, such as the economic motives and ac- 
tivities, is not sociological, the findings of such an investigation may serve 
as data for the sociologist who is trying to formulate the regularities of all 
kinds of social motives and activities and thus establish generalizations 
concerning human motives and activities in all kinds of associated life. 

3. Go through the volume of the Census on Population and show one 
thing which the sociologist may find of value therein. 

4. Read one good elementary text on sociology and point out what parts 
of it represent social philosophy and what parts belong to social science. 

5. Choose some one social problem in your community, such as the recrea- 
tion facilities, vice, the customs of courtship prevailing there, etc., and make 
a careful sociological study of it according to the strictest scientific methods. 

6. Make a study of feeblemindedness in your community, being careful 
to indicate what part of that study is strictly biological and what sociological. 


CHAPTER II 


METHODS OF INVESTIGATION 


Sociological Purpose. — Whatever methods are employed in 
investigation, a sociological purpose is necessary in order to 
obtain satisfactory results. In natural science, a beginner 
may be sent into the field or laboratory to see what he can find, 
with a view to training his observation. But what he discovers 
will never be of permanent value until he goes into the field or 
laboratory to find out certain things or to test certain hypoth- 
eses. The complexity of social phenomena and the wide range 
of observation make it idle for him to waste his energies in a 
purposeless search for the facts of human society. He may have, 
indeed, a very broad subject, such as the unity of the human 
mind, which will oblige him to study the mental types of different 
tribes and races. Nevertheless, without this definite purpose 
he could study psychical phenomena of tribes and races forever 
without reaching any definite conclusion. It may be a some- 
what narrower subject, like the labor problem of America that 
he is studying, but even in that he should limit his subject to 
the closed shop, the pathology of the strike, or the effect of the 
union label, in order to reach results of value. The purpose 
having been once determined, all facts relating to it should be 
used, and all others for the time being excluded. 

On the other hand, one must ever guard himself against allow- 
ing his bias or even his hypothesis to blind him to any relevant 
facts. Sometimes, after sufficient experience has been gained 
in first-hand study of a social subject, one may well begin the 
study of a certain field without any previous hypothesis. A 
definite sociological purpose will not hinder careful scientific 
work by the trained worker, but may prove to be a pitfall 
for the beginner. In either case, whether he starts with a theory 
or without one, his scientific interest should dominate any re- 
ligious or social motive which he may have. For example, 

2M 529 


530 OUTLINES OF SOCIOLOGY 


one may start out to ascertain what function the saloon serves. 
He may begin with a theory that it serves a useful purpose in 
providing a place where the poor man may meet his fellows on 
terms of equality and where the process of socialization may 
take place, or that the saloon is entirely antisocial in its tend- 
encies, and serves no useful social purpose, or he may seek to 
get all the facts without any hypothesis as to whether it func- 
tions as a social agent or not. In either case he will endeavor 
to get all the facts and make up his mind from his findings, not 
from his beliefs. 

Limitation of the Subject of Study. — To succeed in socio- 
logical investigation, it is necessary to consider only the relevant 
facts. Take, for instance, a subject such as the relation of the 
colored to white children in mixed schools. A great many 
facts may be gathered concerning both of these classes of pupils, 
but it would be better to narrow the work to relative progress 
of the two races. Even this would require a wide range of re- 
search. The vital object of such study would be a fair test of 
relative mental ability of the two races. The sociological pur- 
pose being narrowed down to the determination of racial mental 
capacity, it would be necessary to consider all the environments 
—in fact the entire social life — of the respective races. Be- 
ginning with the kindergarten it will be found, perhaps, that 
children of the colored race are as bright, and learn as rapidly 
as those of the white race. In the grades, the former begin to 
decline in relative ability and progress. In order to determine 
whether this is due to environment or racial characteristics, 
it will require an investigation into the home surroundings 
and the wider social life. By a careful study of his nature the 
relative mental powers may be determined. While all of the 
data of every kind that relate to the subjects well may be con- 
sidered, all else will be excluded. 

Selection of Facts Bearing upon the Problem. — There must 
be a perpetual selection of the right data or nothing will be ac- 
complished. Certain facts must be cast away and the remainder 
carefully compared as to relative values. It would be idle if 
one were investigating the subject of apples to gather in his 
basket cherries, pears, grapes, and peaches along with the 
apples, simply because they may all be classified under the term 
fruit, and so for every subject in statistics the necessary data 


METHODS OF INVESTIGATION 531 


vary from those of any other subject. Take, for example, the 
labor problem. If one were to consider the whole subject of 
labor in a descriptive way he might consider all of the facts in 
connection with its history and progress. But, should he de- 
sire to determine one point only, that of the relative rate of wages 
between two communities, occupations, or groups, he need not 
consider all of the numberless facts about strikes, boycotts, 
the closed shop, injunctions, non-union labor, the walking dele- 
gate, etc. All this matter he would exclude and confine himself 
strictly to the fact of real and nominal wages, within the respec- 
tive groups compared. Every beginner in the scientific study 
of a subject must throw away much material which at first 
sight seems to bear upon the problem, but which on careful 
examination and further study is seen to be irrelevant, al- 
though perhaps interesting in some other connection. 

General Investigation. — Perhaps the simplest method of 
investigation is found in a general subject, about which the 
student collects all of the available data concerning a given 
group or society and classifies them. ‘The investigator in sucha 
study seeks to present the nature of the society described as a 
whole rather than to deduce any principles relating to its 
existence. A town, a rural community, a city, a communistic 
society, or a special community of laborers may be taken. All 
of the sociological characteristics of the group must be enu- 
merated and recorded. Occupation, income, religion, education, 
amusements, general social characteristics, political organiza- 
tion, and government should be carefully noted and described. 
A mining camp in Colorado or Nevada would furnish an inviting 
study of this nature. A careful description of society in a 
foreign country offers great possibilities for this kind of scientific 
work. Examples are to be found in Nansen’s The Esquimos 
and Ross’s The Changing Chinese. Moreover, such studies are 
sadly needed to supply sociological material supplied at present 
too often by the reports of untrained observers or persons 
interested in other than sociological facts. Soon many of the 
customs, practices, ideals, institutions, etc., of these backward 
and isolated people will pass away. Unless the trained sociol- 
ogist observes and describes them the world will lose some of 
the most valuable data bearing upon the problem of social origins. 
If only the early Spanish writers who described the customs and 


532 OUTLINES OF SOCIOLOGY 


rites of the Aztec Indians had been trained in sociology! Such 
work is especially valuable to beginners because it is descriptive 
rather than analytical in its nature, and because it shows them 
what society really is and how it has developed. While the 
results of the novice may not be of permanent value and his 
descriptions will always have to be checked up by the trained 
observer, the value of such studies to the student himself is 
such that he may well begin with such descriptive labor. Thus 
he learns to observe correctly and to describe accurately what 
he sees. He is led to see the significant things in social life and 
to set them forth in their proper relations. 

Special Investigation. — Following the above method of 
investigation a very limited subject, extending over a wide 
range of facts, may be taken by the student. Feeblemindedness 
as a cause of poverty in the United States, the relation of the 
volume of circulating money to prices, or some such subject 
may bechosen. A more difficult subject than either of the above 
mentioned would be a specific subject covering a very narrow 
field, such as the effect of the beef trust on prices, the relation 
between the procedure of juvenile courts and child psychology, 
the conditions of jails in a state, and popular education. In 
order to accomplish anything in a field of this nature it is neces- 
sary to obtain all the facts relating to the specific subject with 
great accuracy and comprehensiveness, to make a very careful 
comparison of them, and to deduce conclusions by rational 
processes. 

Specific Methods. — All investigation of social phenomena 
before it is of any service to science involves both the inductive 
and the deductive methods. Sociology has gained just in pro- 
portion as it has followed the inductive methods of the natural 
sciences. Gathering and classifying phenomena with a distinct 
purpose in view is the foundation of the sociological method. 
But this knowledge is of no use until it is arranged, classified, 
generalized, and the principles deduced therefrom. 

The statistical method is a scientific device to ascertain the 
facts about society and the relations between groups of facts. 
It is an attempt to measure social forces or values in terms of 
number. Its fundamental principle is accurate counting. The 
first movement is to determine the given unit, and the second 
to notice its recurrence within a given time or given space. To 


METHODS. OF INVESTIGATION 533 


use a simple illustration, if one were to break a piece of chalk 
into very many pieces by a blow from a hammer and then were 
to ask, ‘‘ How many pieces of chalk are there as a result of the 
blow? ”’ the first thing to be considered would be what con- 
stitutes a piece of chalk, for there are pieces of all sizes, from the 
particle of dust so small as to be scarcely visible to the naked 
eye, to those of the size of a marble. 

In the enumeration of social phenomena the unit of enumera- 
tion is more difficult to determine. For example, if you are* 
enumerating the Negro race or the Indian race in the United 
States, it is important to determine the distinguishing mark of 
the Negro or the Indian. How should an individual having 
one thirty-second part Negro or Indian blood in his veins be 
classified? If you are investigating the wage system it is neces- 
sary to determine who are the wage earners — those who work 
by the day, the week, the month, or the year, or whether all 
of these shall be so included. Having determined the unit, 
one must find its recurrence within a given time and space. 

Social forces may be measured by the statistical method as to 
what is accomplished in a certain time and space and in a given 
direction. The increased productiveness of a given working 
population by the use of a new invention may be determined. 
The market reports have a purpose of this kind in the estimation 
of prices and crops. 

There are various specific purposes to be served by a statistical 
treatment of social phenomena. The principal ones are the 
static and the dynamic. The first seeks to see society or any 
part of it in its various relationships at a given time. It has no 
reference to progress or change, but seeks an instantaneous view 
of social relationships covering a given social mass. As society 
is never without change, and as it takes time to carry on an in- 
vestigation, the purpose is never exactly realized. A very good . 
illustration of an attempt to secure a static conception of society 
is the taking of the United States census. Take, for example, 
the subject of population alone. Working as rapidly as possible, 
the director of the census must spend some months in obtaining 
an accurate enumeration of the population. During this time 
society has changed by emigration, immigration, birth, and 
death, and the compilation of the census represents not the 
present but the past. So it is with every attempt to get a static 


534 OUTLINES OF SOCIOLOGY 


view of relationships, the constant movement of society, always 
shifting, changing, progressing or retarding, renders it impossible 
to obtain an exact, instantaneous view of society. Perhaps if 
one could invent a social kinetoscope he might obtain such a 
picture of society. 

The dynamic purpose supplements the static by recognizing 
the constant change of society. It seeks to show the movement 
of social forces and their results. It represents a series of 
static views of relationships put together in natural sequence. 
It involves the investigation of such questions as the increase 
in wages, the rise and fall of prices, the increase or decrease 
of population, the increase or decrease of crime or suicide, the 
development of morality, the decline or growth of the war 
spirit, or, in fact, any subject moving. over a given period of 
time. Its success depends a good deal upon the accuracy of 
the successive static views which one may take of the subject. 
Since most societies are actually changing, one cannot fully 
understand society without investigation with the dynamic 
purpose in mind. 

Analysis. — Facts collected are of little value unless intelli- 
gently used. A careful analysis is necessary before they are 
made of service in determining social relationships or social 
progress. Even the best results that may be had will possess 
only a high degree of probability. The difficulty of getting 
exact information, the failure to get universal returns, and the 
numerous processes involved before the final deduction is made, 
give it only a degree of certainty. In proof of this it will be 
found that the United States census, although of great value 
in many ways, gives only approximate rather than mathematical 
accuracy. 

Nevertheless, the closer the student gets to the real mechanism 
of society, the better acquainted he becomes with the real 
forces of society through personal observation and the more 
vital and serviceable will be his work. 

The Social Survey. — A good illustration of the application 
of the statistical method is to be found in what has come to be 
called the social survey. This new application of an old method, 
to which the name social survey has been given, has been charac- 
terized as follows by Paul U. Kellogg, who conducted the Pitts- 
burgh Survey in 1907-1908. It takes its unit of work from the 


METHODS OF INVESTIGATION 535 


surveyor in that it is limited to social conditions within a given 
geographical area, a city, a county, etc. It takes from the 
physician his art of applying to the problems at hand standards 
and experience worked out elsewhere, such as what good ventila- 
tion and good sanitation are. It takes from the engineer his 
working conception of the structural relation of things. It 
deals with the various problems of the community not as isolated 
problems but as integral parts of one problem, the welfare of 
the community. Again, the social survey borrows from the 
charity organization movement its case-counting method of 
bringing the problem down to human terms. It deals with 
actual human beings, their needs and conditions. And finally it 
borrows from the newspaper the art of graphic presentation of 
the truth as found by investigation. Therefore, it may be said 
that a social survey is an application of the statistical method to 
a study of the social problems of a community confined within 
certain geographical limits, and the publication of the results in 
such a way as to lead to the information of the whole community 
concerning itself. 

The history of the social survey movement takes us back to 
the great work of Mr. Charles Booth, who devoted his fortune 
and a great part of his later life to a study of social conditions 
in London, the results of which are published in his Lzfe and 
Labor of the People of London. Mr. Rowntree’s study of 
York set forth in his Poverty, A Study of Town Life, is another 
example of the application of the statistical method to the study 
of a phase of a city’s life. Other studies by individuals and 
groups which approximated the methods of the social survey are 
Jane Addams’s Hull House Maps and Papers, Mr. Woods’s 
South End House Studies, The City Wilderness, Americans in 
Process, etc., Mr. Roberts’s The Anthracite Coal Commumties, 
and various other studies of specific communities. Phases of a 
community’s life were furnished by Hunter’s Tenement House 
Conditions in Chicago, and The First Report of the Tenement 
House Department of the City of New York, 1902-1903. The 
first social survey in the sense of our definition given above ever 
attempted in this country, however, was the Pittsburgh Survey, 
promoted by the Charities Publication Committee and financed 


1 Proceedings of the Academy of Political Science in the City of New York, Vol. 
II, pp. 477-480. 


536 OUTLINES OF SOCIOLOGY 


by the Russell Sage Foundation, the results of which are pub- 
lished in a series of volumes. Since then a number of places 
have introduced this method of social stock taking. Buffalo 
undertook to study the Polish section of that city and financed 
the undertaking itself. Mrs. Caroline Bartlett Crane made 
a preliminary survey of a group of smaller communities of 
Kentucky under the supervision of the State Board of Health 
and the Federation of Women’s Clubs of that state. Various 
cities have been surveyed since then, among them, to name only 
a few, were Providence under the leadership of Mr. Aronovici, 
Newark, New Jersey, and Sag Harbor, under Mr. St. John, and 
Mr. Stelzle of the Presbyterian Board of Home Missions. Since 
then the Russell Sage Foundation has organized a Department 
of Surveys and Exhibits with a director and staff which under- 
takes to survey communities which are in a position to finance 
the undertaking. The Department of Church and Country 
Life has been organized within the Presbyterian Board of Home 
Missions and has made a number of surveys of rural communities 
throughout the eastern and middle western parts of the United 
States. Some of the state universities are taking up the matter 
of social surveys within their respective states, among them 
being the University of Minnesota, the University of Kansas, 
and the University of Wisconsin. 

There is danger that the making of social surveys may be- 
come a fad and degenerate into dilettanteism. ‘There is great 
need of a standardization of methods and a perfecting of tech- 
nique which will preserve the good in social surveying. If the 
universities will take hold of it, as they have of civil, mechanical, 
and mining engineering, the dangers mentioned will be mini- 
mized because the commercial element will be eliminated. As 
practiced at the present time by the professional, social, and 
educational surveyor, it is liable to be brought into disrepute. 
Too often it is made with a destructive bias by the surveyor, 
on the theory, conscious or unconscious, that unless he finds 
something wrong with the place or institution surveyed he will 
have no reason for his existence. Moreover, it is tending in 
some quarters to degenerate into an attempt to apply to such 
matters as methods of education, standards of efficiency which 
may be useful in checking clerks or workers in a factory, but 
which when applied to testing the work of people who are dealing 


METHODS OF INVESTIGATION 537 


with the more delicate matters of education and religious in- 
struction are like trying to mend a watch with a crowbar. 
The limitations of this method must be clearly recognized by 
those who are its friends. Its application to certain problems 
in connection with all kinds of institutions will prove beneficial, 
but to try to bend all kinds of social phenomena to its stiff and 
undeveloped methods is to distort the facts out of all semblance 
to reality and make them the instrument of error rather than of 
truth. 


REFERENCES 


PEARSON, Kart. The Grammar of Science, Chap. I. 

Jevons, W.S. Principles of Science, Chap. XIV. 

See also the series of papers in Proceedings of the Academy of Political Science 
in the City of New York, Vol. II, pp. 475-544 on “Social Surveys”’; 
Riley, ‘Sociology and Social Surveys,” American Journal of Sociology, 
Vol. XVI (May, 1911), pp. 818-836; Gillin, “The Application of the 
Social Survey to Small Communities,” Jbid., Vol. XVII (March, 1912), 
pp. 647-658; ‘The Social Survey and its Further Development,”’ 
Publications of the American Statistical Association, 1915. 


QUESTIONS AND EXERCISES 


1. Look over a volume of the Census, Volume I of Booth’s Life and Labor 
of the People of London, Volume I of The Pittsburgh Survey, and state the 
sociological purpose in each. 

2. Would the study of family life among the Bantoc Igorotes of the 
Philippines be a special or a general sociological study ? 

3. Cite a book aside from those mentioned in the text which is a descrip- 
tive sociological study. 

4. Let the class organize itself for a complete survey of some community 
or some one social problem therein. There is great need of a careful look- 
ing into the situation with respect to the means of social recreation in most 
communities. Other subjects will naturally suggest themselves. 

5. When the Census Report on Marriage and Divorce sets forth the num- 
ber of marriages in the United States in a certain year, is it following the 
static or the dynamic method? Which is illustrated when it compares the 
number of divorces in 1887 with the number in 1906? 

6. Are Riis’s books, How the Other Half Lives, The Battle with the Slum, 
and The Children of the Poor sociological investigations? If so, what kind? 





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PART SEVEN 


THE HISTORY OF SOCIOLOGY 


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CHAPTER I 
SOCIAL PHILOSOPHY 


Historical Development of Sociology. — A knowledge of the 
development of sociology is essential to a full comprehension of 
the subject. It is a history of the speculations touching the 
origin and development of society, and of the steps in the process 
by which sociology is becoming not only social philosophy, more 
or less closely applied to political philosophy, but also a science 
with its own methods and norms, with its generalizations based 
primarily upon a wide induction from social facts. In a brief 
sketch the ideas of the principal contributors to the science 
may be reviewed, even though an analysis of all their theories 
and systems of thought is not possible. 

Although the evolution of society has been in progress since an 
early period, the development of sociology began at a compara- 
tively recent date. However, wherever society has developed 
so that there has been leisure for thought, men have speculated 
about society. Hebrew prophet and Attic sage has each con- 
tributed something to social theory, the one emphasizing the 
purpose of the state from the standpoint of religious idealism, 
the other stressing the philosophical nature and function of the 
state. Plans of association, of government, law, religion, or 
general social order have been set forth by leaders in thought 
and action during the course of human history. Many of the 
early suggestions were concrete plans for the practical regulation 
of a particular social group or nation. General theories were 
seldom advanced. Yet these practical experiments were of 
service in developing a program of social action and preparing 
the way for more general theories and systems. In the history 
of sociology there will be found, then, three distinct classes 
of ideas, namely: (1) those arising from ideal systems set forth 
by philosophers, (2) those arising from plans of practical social 
changes, and (3) those coming from the scientists who have 
through investigation and logical construction laid the founda- 

541 


542 OUTLINES OF SOCIOLOGY 


tions of a scientific sociology. These classes of ideas do not 
necessarily follow each other but are more or less blended from 
age to age. It will be possible to allude to only a few of the 
prominent epoch-making examples of each class. 

Ancient Philosophers. — The ancient philosophers who con- 
structed elaborate theories of government and social organiza- 
tion have had much influence in awakening thought on the 
nature of society and forms of social order. In this particular 
connection, perhaps the philosophy of Plato has been more 
extensive in its influence than any other idealistic system. 
While the methods of social organization set forth in The Re- 
public were never put into practice, that book was the first 
great utopian scheme conceived by man and has influenced 
modern thought in many ways. 

In quite a different way has the Politics of Aristotle modified 
social thought. It was rather a scientific treatise on govern- 
ment than an ideal system of social order. Discussing the 
philosophical foundations of social order it could not fail to in- 
fluence men’s thoughts about social relations. As a critical 
analysis of the bases of government it modified the thought of 
Western Europe from the time of its introduction into the cur- 
rent of political discussion among the nations which slowly 
arose from the ruins of the Roman Empire in the Middle Ages. 
It was an original philosophy of government based upon the best 
examples in history. Wherever read, it created thoughtful- 
ness as to the nature of society and the power and duty of 
government. 

Likewise, Cicero in his philosophy of the State and Justinian 
in his Codex, from the Roman standpoint gave a new direction 
to social philosophy. The Romans were intensely practical in 
governmental affairs, and were so successful in creating law and 
establishing social order, that the impress of their deeds upon sub- 
sequent philosophy was tremendous. Not only was their theory 
of the law and their form of government followed closely by 
succeeding generations, but their conception of society and 
social order have colored the discussions of jurists, historians, 
and philosophers of medieval and modern times. Especially 
to be noted is the Roman interpretation of property rights and 
systems of administration which dominated the early states 
founded among Teutonic peoples. 


SOCIAL PHILOSOPHY 543 


Among the Teutonic peoples, before they were influenced by 
Roman law, there was comparatively little constructive work. 
Their codes of laws were tribal customs and their social life 
very simple, although Alfred may have devoted some thought 
to a plan for the better government of his Saxons. The Roman 
law found in the Teutons and Celts a people prepared both 
by their previous history and by the new problems raised by 
their recent social development. 

Medieval Philosophers. — While early philosophers and 
practical reformers sought to make a transition from the ethnic 
to the demographic society, those of medieval times were 
crying out against the corruption of a system of government 
that was established through the rise of kingship immediately 
following the dissolution of the feudal system. The Roman 
idea of imperialism entered the Teutonic nations just as they 
were emerging from the tribal into demotic society. On the 
decay of feudalism the Roman idea of government, suggested 
both by the students of Roman law and by the example of the 
Church, came into practical operation. The Christian Church 
had already by the fourth century so thoroughly established its 
system of brotherhood and so completely adopted the Roman 
idea of government in its organization that it became a formi- 
dable opponent to the rapidly decaying Roman Empire. On the 
fall of the Western Empire in 476 a.p. the Church was pre- 
pared to take up in a measure the reins of government struck 
from the nerveless grasp of the ancient City. The one first 
to give this aim convincing literary expression and so to es- 
tablish it in the minds of succeeding generations of churchmen 
was Augustine, who in order to contrast the ideal workings of 
the Christian Church with the corrupt practices of the world, 
wrote his City of God. It was a presentation of the ideas of a 
Christian state founded on the doctrine of brotherly love and 
perfect equality, under the headship of the Catholic clergy. 
In subsequent years a series of able popes realized in concrete 
and definite form the main lines of his ideal of this divine system. 
St. Augustine was a virile writer and had a great influence, not 

1See Augustine, The City of God, Bk. XX; Harnack, History of Dogma, Vol. 
V, pp. 151-155; Monasticism and Confessions of St. Augustine, p. 121; Bryce, 
The Holy Roman Empire, Rev. Ed., 1904, Chaps. IV, X. The Genevan state at . 


a much later date bears a close resemblance to this ideal city of God, so far as it 
could be carried out by human endeavor, 


544 OUTLINES OF SOCIOLOGY 


only on subsequent theology, but on the medieval church 
as a temporal state. Writers of the medieval period followed 
Augustine in seeking to reform the government on what they 
believed was the Christian basis. 

Several writers who would scarcely be classified as medieval, 
but with much less propriety may be considered modern, such 
as Sir Thomas More, Campanella, Dante, and Machiavelli, 
presented ideal systems of government in contrast with the 
corrupt and defective medieval system which was prolonging 
itself beyond its stage of usefulness. In The Prince, Machia- 
velli makes an attempt to unify these scattered elements of 
governmental practice and philosophy into a new imperialism. 
Its chief influence arises from its recognition of the need of 
reform rather than from the definite remedy suggested. Like- 
wise, in the De Monarchia of Dante, imperialistic ideas are 
not wanting, but the evil characteristics of government are to 
be eliminated through the light of Christian doctrine. But 
neither Machiavelli nor Dante had so great an influence on 
social philosophy as Thomas More. While More’s Utopia, 
the most remarkable of all the ideal commonwealths after 
Plato’s Republic, comes at the opening of the modern period, 
its chief aim is the criticism of the medieval system then ob- 
taining in England. In contrasting the corrupt and defective 
methods of government then in vogue with an ideal community 
based on political, industrial, and social equality, he created a 
new conception of social organization and suggested new aims 
of association and of government. Campanella’s City of the 
Sun, written about the beginning of the seventeenth century, 
formulated for the first time a complete socialistic system. 
While not so great a book in many ways as the Utopia of More, 
it emphasized the communistic ideal of society. It presented 
an ideal city carefully organized and thoroughly disciplined. 
The basis of government was equality and the sacrifice of the 
individual to the community. Campanella was opposed to 
the philosophy of Aristotle, and his work was the counterpart of 
Plato’s Republic. It furnished a scientific basis for communistic 
socialism.} 

These systems of ideal governments, projected by thoughtful 
minds, helped to suggest scientific principles of government and 


1 See supra, Chap. II, Part IV. 


SOCIAL PHILOSOPHY 545 


showed the world how far the regnant ideals of the time were 
from the ideals of social justice, and from social aims terminating 
in the general welfare of the people. They called attention to 
the changes in economic and social life consequent on the rise of 
a broadened commercial and industrial horizon and suggested that 
these new conditions demanded the consideration of the state. 
While the works of Campanella and More represent only a 
dream of government which could never be realized as pictured, 
they embodied an ideal of justice which, if states and societies 
are to be perpetuated, must eventually be approximated. 
Further, they demonstrated that the methods of social life were 
worthy of the study of philosophers. 

Modern Philosophers. — The difference between medieval 
and modern philosophy is a difference in fundamental ideas 
rather than in chronology. It is difficult, therefore, to say 
when the former ended and the latter began. Perhaps The 
New Atlantis of Bacon, written early in the seventeenth cen- 
tury, should be classified along with the Utopia of More and 
the City of the Sun of Campanella. However, as The New 
Atlantis was a fragment of the philosophy of Bacon which 
stands at the beginning of the modern era it may be considered 
as a part of modern philosophy. Its purpose is rather to awaken 
an interest in philosophy and show the duty of the state towards 
science than to stimulate governmental experiments. Bacon 
hoped to ameliorate the conditions of society through the ad- 
vancement of knowledge, and he attempted to show that it is, 
therefore, the state’s duty to take an interest in all affairs that 
affect the physical well-being of man, as well as those that per- 
fect the organization of human society. 

The approach to the social order through philosophical 
means was finally changed to the political point of view. Har- 
rington’s Oceana, written in 1656 and dedicated to Cromwell, 
was a serious consideration of a written constitution for the 
purpose of limiting monarchy. This was followed by Hume a 
century later in his Essays Moral and Political, in which he 
presented his idea of a perfect commonwealth. From this 
time a strong current of English thought set in toward a liberal 
spirit In government. 

In France the same spirit of liberty was stirring in the seven- 
teenth century. Vairasse d’Allais pictured an ideal monarchy 

2N 


546 OUTLINES OF SOCIOLOGY 


in which the state owned the land and the people dwelt in semi- 
communistic groups. Fenelon’s Télémaque also describes a 
perfect monarchy ruled by a perfect king. These were but 
hints of an ideal system in strange contrast with the government 
then in vogue. 

The eighteenth century in France witnessed a serious con- 
sideration of the so-called natural rights of men and the rela- 
tion of civil government to natural law. Montesquieu gave a 
philosophical discussion of the three sorts of government, the 
despotic, the monarchical, and the republican, which he exam- 
ined with great care, and thereby gave an impetus to the study 
of political science. Rousseau’s Social Contract appeared in 
1762, which set forth the peculiar doctrine that government 
existed through voluntary compact, to be dissolved at will. 
While it was extreme in its views, being inspired by reaction 
against the French monarchy and the theory of the divine right 
of kings, then supreme, it has had enormous influence on social 
philosophy. This was followed by Mably, who in a series of 
writings denounced private property, the right of inheritance, 
methods of commerce and credit, as well as all forms of culture. 
He was iconoclastic in the extreme, almost revolutionary in his 
utterances. He was a strong advocate of poverty as the mother 
of virtues, and of equality and community of goods as the basis 
of the state. These writers prepared the way for the French 
Revolution and its socialistic philosophers. 

Babceuf, Saint-Simon, Fourier, Cabet, Louis Blanc, and 
Proudhon advocated various ideal systems which ranged all 
the way from state socialism to a system of anarchy. These 
schemes were the attempts of dreamers to eliminate the harsh 
and unjust, social and political systems of Europe by the es- 
tablishment of an ideal social order. Impractical as many 
of their schemes were in detail, their writings were highly ser- 
viceable in pointing out the evil of existing affairs and suggest- 
ing many means of improvement which were brought about 
later by less radical measures. 

Adam Smith’s Wealth of Nations gave a great impetus to 
thought concerning the commonwealth. John Stuart Mill’s 
Political Economy and his political philosophy embodied in 
others of his writings were important contributions to the sub- 
ject of political science. Mill points out the need of a social 


SOCIAL PHILOSOPHY 547 


science or sociology as a more complete study of human society. 
Malthus, in his study of the relation of the food supply to the 
population, startled the world by his conclusions and stimulated 
interest in statistical inquiry into the condition of human 
society. All of these writers, as well as others, directed human 
thought towards social affairs, but formulated no science of 
society and suggested no synthetic method for its study. 
Experimental Social Philosophers.— While the number 
of persons who have given us ideal systems of government 
is great, comparatively few in number are those who have 
attempted practical experiments for the improvement of the 
social order. In some cases experiments in social reform by 
means of laws and ideals grew out of the practical necessity 
of coming to terms with an existing situation. In other cases, 
especially in later times, social experiments were inaugurated in 
response to utopias presented by the social philosophers of their 
time or of earlier days. Among those who stand out from all the 
rest among the ancients in suggesting practical social improve- 
ment are Moses, Lycurgus, Solon, Servius Tullius, and Charle- 
magne; while among the moderns are the French revolutionists, 
the American revolutionists, and men like Robert Owen, Louis 
Blanc, and Etienne Cabet. While the great lawgivers used 
the practices of common law and social order already in existence 
before them as a foundation of their systems, still they were 
masterful organizers who set forth new plans and forced society 
to adopt them. For example, the early Hebrew kingdom was 
built up on a social basis of tribal customs and laws existing 
long before but modified by the exigencies of settlement among 
a hostile people, the Caananites, and connected by tradition 
with the earlier hero and lawgiver, Moses. Upon that basis 
layer after layer of law and rule was laid down from age to age 
by lawmaking prophets and priests, from the Deuteronomic 
Code, the work of the disciples of the great eighth century 
prophets, down through the so-called Priest’s Code to the legis- 
lation of the Talmud. The earlier codes aimed at political, 
social, and industrial justice, and, dealing as they did with a 
semicivilized race, they regulated morals and religion as well 
as civil affairs. They represent the transition from ethnic to 
demographic society. They recognized classes and defined 
the rights of each class and gave each individual a place in the 


548 OUTLINES OF SOCIOLOGY 


social organization. Perhaps no collection of laws in existence 
ever illustrated more fully the sociological development of law 
and government than the various codes of the Hebrew and 
Jewish peoples. All the social relations in existence at the 
time were recognized and clearly defined by law. While the 
rights of the individual were acknowledged, they were always 
subordinated to the general. social order. It was recognized 
that the individual could not go far in any direction without 
coming into conflict with the rights of his fellows. They all 
reflect the social order of the times for which they were intended 
and set forth an ideal towards which the people were urged 
by formal enactments ostensibly handed down by an ancient 
lawgiver of peculiar endowment and authority. The so-called 
Mosaic codes, therefore, represent not only the collected laws 
relating to the Hebrew people, but also ideal societies and prac- 
tical experiments in social life. These laws have had great in- 
fluence on subsequent forms of government and legislation and 
especially on the philosophy of government and social usage.} 
The laws of Lycurgus, while representing the usages of 
the Spartans, had for their purpose the carrying out of the 
new practical plan of government in which the individual was 
largely subjected to the social order. Likewise, the laws of 
Solon represent the transition from the old forms of ethnic 
society to a newer democracy and as such are somewhat experi- 
mental in their nature, although like all others his laws rested 
upon the best usages of the people. Yet many of them, based 
upon existing laws as a foundation, instituted such practical 
reforms as resulted in the transformation of social order. Of a 
similar character were the laws of Servius Tullius of Rome, 
who organized the Roman society on a military basis — the 
first formal departure of the Romans from the old groupings of 
ethnic society. Subsequent attempts at the reform in the land 
laws of Rome represent practical experiments in government. 
All attempts to reform society through such experiments have 
had great influence in shaping the practices and theories of 
government. The conquest and reorganization of Western 


1On the development of the Hebrew and Jewish codes, see Hastings, Dictionary 
of the Bible, Art. ‘“‘Hexateuch”; Cheyne, Encyclopedia Biblica, Art. ‘‘Hexateuch ” ; 
Briggs, The Higher Criticism of the Hexateuch, Chaps. VII and VIII; Mitchell, 
The World Before Abraham, pp. 1-72. 

* Goodspeed, History of the Ancient World, p. 100. 


SOCIAL PHILOSOPHY 549 


Europe by Charlemagne was accompanied by an attempt to 
establish educational and civil reforms which, though not 
lasting or continuous in subsequent development, stand out 
as historical landmarks and possibilities of what may be done 
by government to modify society. 

Robert Owen sought to reéstablish society on an industrial 
basis and his experiment at New Lanark was a theory of society 
put to the acid test. While it eventually failed, he left an 
influence making for codperation which was both important 
and permanent. The modern experimenters, like Cabet and 
Louis Blanc, and the various communistic societies are impor- 
tant in demonstrating what may not be done by way of social 
reorganization, rather than what may be accomplished. All of 
these practical experiments have been useful in lighting up the 
nature of human society and the peculiar limitations which 
surround it. Practical experiments like these testify to a sense 
of social unity in a nation, and are indicative of the growth of 
social consciousness. More than this, they give evidence of a 
telic force in society — the socialized human mind — aiming 
to guide it towards a clearly perceived goal. They have inspired 
social study and helped to establish principles of social order, 
through a critical discussion of aims of society. 

Recent Philosophy. — Recent philosophers following in the 
line of thought started by the writers mentioned above be- 
gan to philosophize as to the origin, development, and con- 
stitution of society. Somewhat dogmatically, perhaps, they 
reached lofty conclusions concerning the nature and destiny 
of society, which they approached usually from the standpoint 
of social reform. The Christian socialists of England through 
the leadership of Charles Kingsley and F. D. Maurice protested 
against the hard determination of the dominant J/aissez-faire 
theory, and advocated the development of the social side of 
Christian life. They emphasized the social element as essential 
in the building of a Christian state. The problems of politics 
and economics, and the peculiar relations of rich and poor were 
to be settled on the basis of a Christian philosophy. The 
preaching by Carlyle, Ruskin, and William Morris of the gospel 
of a life of the true and the beautiful had a tendency to elevate 
social ideals. If their social points of view were not always 
properly taken, their impulses were good and their suggestions 


550 OUTLINES OF SOCIOLOGY 


of the value of conscious social activity for the common good 
bore fruit in philanthropic endeavors. 

More recently J. S. MacKenzie, in An Introduction to Social 
Philosophy, defined in a broad and general way the scope and 
limits of the application of philosophical principles to social 
questions. He brought the world of thought a little nearer 
to a social science. With a keen insight he presented the ele- 
ments of social order and by his superior analysis of society 
showed what might be accomplished in the adaptation of social 
organization to social needs. Nevertheless, it was a critical 
philosophy rather than a science that he presented to the world. 
Its service, however, in establishing clearness of thought on 
social questions cannot be overestimated. Benjamin Kidd, 
in his Social Evolution, emphasized religion and the power of 
the emotions in human progress. But his work is rather a 
philosophy of civilization and progress than a scientific treat- 
ment of the evolution of society. It would scarcely claim to be 
scientific in premises, analysis, or conclusion, yet it served to 
arouse thought respecting certain phases of social development. 
Lotze, in his Microcosmus, brings history to view the social life 
of the people and lays down some scientific principles for the 
movement of civilization. Grozier, in his Civilization and Prog- 
ress, and Nash, in The Genesis of the Social Conscience, brings 
us close to the organic conception of society. 

All these are but philosophies about society, based more or 
less upon general facts. For the most part they are philosophic 
generalizations about society and social functions. While 
taken as a whole they give an exposition of certain aspects of 
social life, not one or all combined could rise to the dignity of 
a science of society. Yet their influence in shaping thought and 
in bringing general philosophy to the service of the science of 
society must be recognized. 


REFERENCES 


Dunninc, W. A. Political Theories. 

Exy, R. T. French and German Socialism. 

SMALL, A. W., and VINCENT, GEORGE E. Introduction to a Study of Society. 

WritLoucHuBy, W. W. Ancient Political Theories. 

The student is especially urged to read the authors mentioned in the pre- 
vious chapter. 


SOCIAL PHILOSOPHY 551 


QUESTIONS AND EXERCISES 


1. By what three movements was sociology prepared for? 

2. Read Exodus 20: 23-26; 21: 2-16, 18-37; 22:1-23, 33, and make 
an outline of the state of society contemplated by this Mosaic code. 

3. Compare with this code the Code of Hammurabi in Hastings’ Diction- 
ary of the Bible, Extra Volume, pp. 599-608. 

4. Read More’s Utopia and show its bearing on the problem of social 
relations. . 

5. How does social philosophy differ from social science? 

6. In what ways does social philosophy prepare for social science? 


“CHAPTER II 
THE SCIENCE OF SOCIETY 


Basis of Sociological Thought. — In the last chapter a brief 
review was made of the early attempts to provide a theoretical 
basis of social relations. Conscious of the defects of society 
and seeing some ways in which these shortcomings could be 
remedied, social reformers and philosophical thinkers formulated 
a philosophy of society. These theories, although mere guesses 
at the riddle of social life, made necessary a well-defined and 
comprehensive science of society. As guesses they had value 
in calling attention to the necessity of a theory of society based 
upon a broader study of social facts and less influenced by indi- 
vidual and party prejudice.. The ultimate fulfilment of these 
various social philosophies, however, is social science. 

In the present chapter it is desired to present very briefly 
the principal elements which have entered into sociology and 
the successive steps in its development. The foundations rest 
primarily upon (1) the organic conception of society, (2) a 
recognition of the conscious, collective action of its members, 
and (3) upon the scientific analysis of the structure and the 
activity of the social body. Every systematic study of society 
involving one of these phases of thought, even though it be 
limited in scope, contributes to the formation of the science. 

Forerunners of Sociology.— Many writers approaching 
society from a religious, political, economic, ethical, or psychologi- 
cal standpoint have contributed something to the study of 
social relationships. Wherever they have supported their 
theories by scientific data they have prepared the material for 
the construction of sociology. These writers may be called 
the forerunners of sociology, for their lines of thought prepare 
for a scientific conception. Perhaps five lines of thought, 
sometimes distinct and again blending in more or less confusion, 
have promoted scientific sociological study. These are the 


552 


THE SCIENCE OF SOCIETY 553 


study of the biological sciences, the scientific conception of 
history, and the modern method of studying economics, philos- 
ophy, and ethics. Writers who have followed these lines, view- 
ing society as a whole, have brought the thinking world into a 
semiscientific attitude respecting the activities of society. 

Prominent among the men who have influenced this new 
attitude in some of these lines of study is Vico, who, declaring 
that history is governed by laws as fixed and regular as those 
which control the material world, gave a new direction to that 
study; Montesquieu, who, in his Spirit of Laws, applied the 
new methods to a study of politics; Turgot, in his evolutionary 
exposition of finance, economics, and politics; Condorcet, who 
recounted the progress of the human mind and insisted on the 
indefinite perfectibility of social institutions; Adam Smith, 
whose philosophical and economic writings emphasized the 
interdependence of individuals and classes; and John Stuart 
Mill, who asserted that there was need of a new science called 
sociology. The recognition by all these philosophers and writers 
that society presents a group of phenomena worthy of study, 
and that there exists a social organization needing adjustment, 
paved the way for sociology. 

The Founders of Sociology. — August Comte coined the 
name “ sociology,”’ and laid the corner stone of its foundation. 
His work was that of a builder who should make the plans for 
and clear a place for a building, lay a stone in the foundation, 
and leave it for others to complete. Others had been contrib- 
uting material of different sorts, not dressed for the builders, 
to be sure, but material which could be used when prepared. 
Comte’s great merit lay in his gathering up these materials 
ready to hand in the shape of historical and scientific studies 
and outlining the method by which they could be built into the 
new temple which he first called sociology. In his “ hierarchy 
of sciences,” set forth in The Positive Philosophy, he gave an 
important place to sociology, for universal knowledge would 
not yield to classification without it. Social physics or sociology 
was given as one of the five fundamental natural sciences. 
Moreover, he perceived it was the latest addition to the hierarchy 
of ordered knowledge. The corner stone of the new science 
was the evolutionary conception of society. 

Comte has been called a “ herald ” of sociology, and indeed, 


554 OUTLINES OF SOCIOLOGY 


he was little more. Nevertheless, in insisting on classification 
and in making rules for that classification he left plans for the 
builders who followed him. His generalizations are suggestive, 
far reaching, and valuable, although the details of his system 
are incomplete and sometimes seriously out of place. As 
Ward, referring to Comte, well says: ‘‘ He seems to possess 
the rare power, everywhere manifest through his work, of weav- 
ing upon a warp of truth a woof of error. ... He is a great 
general in the army of thinkers; but when he descends, as he 
continually does, to meddle with the brigades, regiments, and 
platoons, he throws them into confusion by the undue severity 
and amazing stupidity of his commands.” ! 

But as Spencer, who built his sociology in part upon the 
corner stone laid by Comte, says: ‘‘ We must not overlook the 
greatness of the step made by M. Comte. His mode of con- 
templating facts was truly philosophical. ... Apart from his 
sociological doctrines his way of conceiving social phenomena 
is much superior to all previous ways.” Comte’s conception 
was all-embracing. To have pointed out the relation between 
biology and sociology, and to have outlined the plan of a science 
and suggested how to complete it was of incalculable service. 
In the accumulated, heterogeneous mass of social theory and 
speculation already in existence, unclassified, undifferentiated 
and without a general purpose, he established a fixed point about 
which the phenomena of society could be organized. In doing 
these things he can safely be considered the founder of sociology. 

But in the beginning of a science, as in the beginning of a 
state, there is frequently more than one founder. Herbert 
Spencer built upon the foundation laid by Comte. Differing 
in many points as to philosophical doctrine, Spencer elaborated 
further the main principles of Comte, modifying them in accord- 
ance with new knowledge and restating them in terms of his 
evolutionary philosophy. He gave the new science an impetus 
and demonstrated by inductions from a wide collection of facts 
its possibility. Though his system is one sided, sociology, 
viewed from the present standpoint, owes more to Spencer than 
to any other sociologist. True, he constructed his theory’ of 
society upon the analogy of an animal organism, .and carried 


1 Dynamic Sociology, Vol. I, p. 129. 
2 The Study of Sociology, p. 329. 


THE SCIENCE OF SOCIETY 555 


too far the comparison between the biological and the socio- 
logical organism. Yet his main thesis, that the social organism 
grows like a biological organism by differentiation, was helpful 
in the beginning of an attempt to apply the scientific methods 
to society which has accomplished such wonders in the natural 
sciences. His error is easily accounted for when one considers 
that at the time he wrote his Principles of Soctology all eyes 
were fixed upon the great change which was occurring in 
biology and that his sociology is essentially a study of social 
structure alone. In pressing the biological analogy, Spencer 
overlooked the importance of integration, which has been cor- 
rectly emphasized by later sociologists. He rightly insisted on 
the collection of social data and the construction of sociology 
from an inductive study of society. In the development of 
sociology his emphasis proved an excellent thing for sociology, 
but he failed to carry the investigation beyond a study of 
social structure, and he did not give proper emphasis to the 
psychological element of society. 

Spencer’s Descriptive Socrology is but a classified collection 
of social facts based on social activities and social structures. 
It furnished the basis of his Principles of Sociology which ap- 
peared later. These, together with an introductory book on 
The Study of Sociology comprise his formal contributions to the 
science of sociology, although many premises are laid down in 
First Principles and Social Statics. Sociology has advanced 
along so many lines since Spencer’s labors that much of his work 
appears as a study of institutions and a description of ethnic 
society. 

Progress of Sociology. — Since the writings of Comte and 
Spencer appeared, the main development of the science of sociol- 
ogy has been secured by the application of a scientific method 
to the study of human society. The progress of its develop- 
ment has been exceedingly irregular because each investigator 
has approached the subject from his own point of view, and has, 
therefore, contributed to the science according to his own pecul- 
iar theories, doctrines, and preconceived notions. Hence we 
find a large number of men — many of them of tremendous 
power — who have been trying to construct the science of 
sociology. But there has been little synthetic development. 
Even now there is just arising a consensus of opinion among 


550 OUTLINES OF SOCIOLOGY 


sociologists as to the scope, boundaries, and essential principles 
of sociology. No one has offered a system that would be ac- 
cepted by all. Yet there is sufficient agreement, as to methods, 
enough data have been collected, enough principles have been 
demonstrated, and conclusions reached to promise rapid prog- 
ress henceforth. In recent years the points of view are closer 
and the lines of thought converging. It is becoming clear 
that each of the great workers in this vast field has been studying 
a certain part of it and a synthesis of the results of their labors 
is at hand. 

The Organic Conception of Society. — Comte recognized 
the unity of society and in a certain way its organic nature. 
But to Comte the structure was physical rather than biological. 
Spencer, as we have seen, based his sociology on biology and 
therefore conceived society as a physical organism. It is evi- 
dent, however, in the unfolding of his thought concerning the 
development of society, that he changed his viewpoint from 
time to time. Sometimes he treated society as merely analogous 
to a biological structure and at others he asserted that it is 
more than an organism. But while upon the whole he recog- 
nized the physical unity of society, in considering the functions 
of the state, he seems at times to lose sight of his conception of 
society as an organic whole and to relapse into a crass indi- 
vidualism. 

The Austrian economist, August Schaeffle, in 1874, began to 
publish his monumental work on structural sociology, called 
The Structure and Life of the Social Body (Bau und Leben des 
Socialen Kérpers). As the title suggests, it describes the organs 
or parts of the social body and analyzes their functions or activ- 
ities. It is a more complete exposition of the biological idea 
of sociology than that given by Spencer. Yet, it is quite re- 
markable that Schaeffle discussed the form of society with refer- 
ence to its functional activity. For, in showing the activities 
of the respective organs or parts of society, he recognized and 
classified the social forces which are, to a great extent, psycho- 
logical, which would seem to indicate that the psychological 
principle underlay the formal structure which he elaborated. 
Essentially, nevertheless, Schaeffle must be classed among the 
biological sociologists. In the same group, although of less 
importance, are Jacques Novicow, René Worms, and de Roberty. 


THE SCIENCE OF SOCIETY 557 


Influence of Economists.— The lines between political 
economy and sociology are sharply drawn, yet many of the 
methods used by economic writers, as well as their investi- 
gations, have influenced the development of a theory of society. 
This is especially true in regard to their use of the historical 
and statistical methods. The so-called historical school of 
economists have emphasized the development of economic 
ideas in connection with the industrial development of partic- 
ular nations. While generalization has usually been one 
sided in that emphasis has been placed upon the economic life 
as a thing apart, the study of the origin and growth of one field 
of human activity has been of great service in interpreting social 
life in general. These economists have also shown the relation 
of classes and groups, and of economic organs and activities. In 
so doing they have set forth some of the motives actuating men 
to conflict and to codperation, and thus have supplied concrete 
illustration for more general social principles. Roscher, Hilde- 
brand, Knies, and Schmoller in Germany, Wolowski in France, 
and Cliffe Leslie and Posnet in England are the principal 
representatives of this school. 

Le Play, in his Social Reform in France, used the statistical 
method with great skill. The possibilities of the statistical 
method were thus shown for sociological as well as for economic 
studies. He has been followed by Quetelet, Mayo-Smith, 
Bailey, Levasseur, and Leroy-Beaulieu chiefly in studies of the 
social population but with a decided tendency to extend the 
method to other fields of sociological investigation as illustrated 
by Galton and Karl Pearson in the field of eugenics and by 
Professor Benini of Pavia, Italy, and Professor Giddings, in the 
field of social psychology. 

Durkheim, in De la division du travail social, expands -the, 
economic idea of the division of labor in society and makes it 
the basis of his system of sociology. He holds that socializa- 


1 Pearson, Grammar of Science, 2d ed., Chap. XI; Galton, Hereditary Genius; 
Bailey, Modern Social Conditions; Leroy-Beaulieu, P., La question de la population, 
2d ed., Paris, 1913; Levasseur, Emile, La population francaise: histoire de la 
population avant 1780 et démographie de la France comparée a celle des autres nationes 
au siécle 19°, Paris, 1889-1892, 3 vols.; Quetelet, L. A. J.,~ Physique sociale, 
Bruxelles, 1869, 2 vols.; Mayo-Smith, Sociology and Statistics; Giddings, Sociology, 
p. 37; “The Social Marking System,” Publications of the American Sociological 
Society, Vol. IV, p. 42. 


558 OUTLINES OF SOCIOLOGY 


tion comes about because men broken into groups by diverse 
social interests find themselves dependent on each other for 
social completeness. The pressure of necessity for the pres- 
ervation of the interests of each group leads to codperation 
between them. While his work is sociological, it has been greatly 
influenced by the work of the economists. 

This brief catalogue of writers who have indirectly influenced 
sociological thought must not omit the name of Thorstein 
Veblen, whose three books, The Theory of the Leisure Class, The 
Enterprise of Business, and The Instinct of Workmanship, have 
thrown a clear light upon the social motives which affect the 
economic life of man. Here economic results are shown to 
be produced, not alone by those motives which were dear to 
the classical economists, but by motives less simple and con- 
cerned with quite other things than getting enough to eat and 
wear — motives of social distinction, motives born of the social 
passions to excel and to dominate. 

The study of industrial development in recent years has 
been of service to sociology in working out the processes of 
change and the principles of evolution in this particular field 
of associated life. Ely’s Evolution of Industrial Society, is a good 
example. Professor Ely always having been an ardent student 
of society, his studies of economic: development have supplied 
principles of development of much wider social significance. 
Likewise, Biicher’s Industrial Evolution and Ashley’s English 
Economic History throw light upon the development of society. 

Recent Development of Sociology. — With all due credit to 
the earlier writers in this field, its really scientific development 
has occurred since sociologists have ceased to pursue the bio- 
logical analogy, and viewing social phenomena without either 
biological or economic prejudices, have endeavored to apply 
scientific methods to them. From many sources and by a 
multitude of writers, each seeking the truth from his own point 
of view, the contributions to the science of sociology have been 
made. Only a few of the main lines of thought and, conse- 
quently, but a few of the chief writers may be mentioned here. 
The formal beginning of sociology in the United States was 
made by Lester F. Ward, in his monumental work, Dynamic 
Sociology, which appeared in 1883. Previous to the appearance 
of Ward’s book, social science was considered by scholars as a 


THE SCIENCE OF SOCIETY 559 


collection of ideas on social reform. So little was the educational 
world prepared for the introduction of a new science that the 
Dynamic Sociology was received with much misgiving by those 
who paid any attention to it. It has grown in influence steadily 
since its introduction. Representing the dynamic aspect of 
sociology, it covers only a part of the subject, but it was unique 
in clearly delimiting the field of sociology and suggesting help- 
ful divisions of the subject. Further, Ward’s work was a rigid 
application of the scientific method to this limited field. Trained 
as a paleobotanist, fanciful analogies had no charm for his 
scientific spirit. While Ward sees human life as a part of the 
great whole of life, he insists that the basis of social activity 
is really psychological, and that the social forces are psychic 
forces. Ten years later Ward brought out The Psychic Factors 
of Civilization, in which he elaborated his social psychology, 
and developed his thesis that society is fundamentally psychical. 
Another ten years passed before the appearance of his Pure 
Sociology, which was followed by a volume on Applied Sociology. 
In the Pure Sociology, Ward makes the word ‘“ Pure ”’ signify 
an account of the origin and development of society due to 
spontaneous, non-conscious causes. Indeed, the secondary 
title to this volume is The Origin and Spontaneous Development 
of Society. Upon this foundation is built the theory of social 
improvement by “ telesis,’’ or purposeful social action. 

In 1886 appeared the first part of Introduction @ la sociologie 
by the Belgian sociologist Guillaume De Greef. This part 
treated of Elements, and was followed in 1889 by the second 
‘part on Fonctions et organes, and later by a third part on Struc- 
ture général. A part of it has appeared serially in The American 
Journal of Sociology, translated into English by Eben Mumford. 
It is a systematic outline of social systems, organs, and func- 
tions. In the last part he uses the statistical method. The 
central idea in his system is social “‘ contract,” or as Small points 
out social ‘‘ contact.” 

In 1894 a textbook was published with the title An Intro- 
duction to the Study of Society, written by A. W. Small and George 
E. Vincent. While sociology has made much progress since 
this book appeared, it has proved to be a valuable and sugges- 
tive working manual. However, Small’s service to sociology 
is better represented by his discussions in The American Journal 


560 OUTLINES OF SOCIOLOGY 


of Sociology on the nature of sociology and on methodology, 
and in his larger systematic work, General Sociology, published 
in 1904. Vincent previously had published his Education and 
the Social Progress. 

Giddings’s Principles of Sociology first appeared in 1896. 
The foundation of his system of sociology rests on the instinc- 
tive theory implied in Aristotle’s dictum that man is a political 
animal. To him sociology is both a natural history of society 
and a psychological analysis of the structure, processes of growth, 
and the functions of society. He places “consciousness of 
kind ” as the basic social force and the cause of human relation- 
ship. The recognition of kind, or mutual attraction, has built 
society through the processes of differentiation and integration. 
His critics insist that he has made too much of consciousness 
of kind. In his Inductive Soctology, which was published in 
tgo1, Giddings has apparently given consciousness of kind a less 
important place, but really has analyzed its workings much 
more completely than in his previous work. In 1908 he pub- 
lished his Readings in Descriptive and Historical Sociology. 
In this work his system was further elaborated and some points 
developed which had been merely implied in his previous 
writings. Thus, his analysis of the kinds of societies went much 
farther than in any of his previous books, and the social dif- 
ferentiations and resemblances which grow up in the formation 
of the social mind were traced and illustrated much more com- 
pletely than in his previous works. The treatment of the 
stages in the evolution of society which marked his Princrples 
and Elements and which many think the most important con- 
tribution he has made to the study of society, was worked in as 
a minor feature in the part devoted to social organization. 
Perhaps his most important contributions to sociology are his 
theory that society has risen from the operation of the conscious- 
ness of kind, which in his use of the term includes not only 
consciousness of likeness, but also of difference, and his theory 
of social evolution. Consciousness of likeness makes for social 
integration, recognition of differences for social variation. 

Professor Ross’s Social Control, published in 1901, is a brilliant 
and original exposition of the influence of instinctive and con- 
scious social restraint in the process of socialization. He fol- 
lowed this work with his The Foundations of Sociology, and his 


THE SCIENCE OF SOCIETY 561 


Social Psychology. Later Professor Ross has turned his atten- 
tion from systematic sociology in one or more of its special 
fields to descriptive sociology in The Changing Chinese, Changing 
America, The Old World in the New, a sociological study of 
immigration, and South of Panama. 

This brief catalogue of American sociologists would be incom- 
plete without reference to the brilliant work of Professors Cooley 
and Ellwood. In his first work, Human Nature and the Social 
Order, Professor Cooley pointed out how those qualities of the 
mind which are distinctively human are socially conditioned, 
and the bearing of these qualities upon society. In his last 
book, Social Organization, he has analyzed the social mind with 
the primary emphasis upon its functioning in social relation- 
ships. Here we are shown how the social mind works itself 
out through certain primary groups in social ideals, how it 
develops through communication, giving rise in the end to the 
democratic mind. Yet, in that development the mind of a 
community operates through social classes, leveling some and 
causing others to emerge, sometimes leading to the disorganiza- 
tion of the social institutions characterizing a society which has 
not yet developed unity of opinion, and finding expression at 
last in the public will for the general welfare. In his recent 
book, Soctology in its Psychological Aspects, Professor Ellwood 
has made a systematic study of the field of social psychology, 
with special reference to the bearing of psycho-social principles 
upon social structure and function. 

Much more than can be allowed here might well be written 
of the work of Thomas, who, in his Sex and Society, showed the 
part played by the difference between the sexes in social de- 
velopment, and whose monumental work, A Source Book for 
Soctal Origins, with its brief but lucid criticisms, has cast a great 
light upon that hazy group of primitive activities and ideas 
which underlie and condition later social development. 

Space will not permit more than the mere mention of a number 
of recent European sociologists, who have made important 
contributions to sociology. Gumplowicz,! the Austrian Dar- 
winist, and Ratzenhofer,? the Austrian, both of whom saw in 
the struggle of groups or races the fundamental social fact 

1 Der Rassenkampf; Grundriss der Sociologie. 
2 Die sociologische Erkenntnis. 
20 


562 OUTLINES OF SOCIOLOGY 


out of which grew social order and progress; Tarde,! the great 
French jurist, whose emphasis upon invention, imitation, and 
opposition as the important factors in the origin and develop- 
ment of social relations made sociology his debtor; Le Bon,? to 
whom we owe the theory of mob psychology and mob activity ; 
Simmel,? who has worked out most completely the psychology 
of differentiation of groups and their subordination to a domi- 
nant ideal represented by a valued common possession such 
as a common country, by a symbol of common feelings such as 
a flag or a shibboleth, by a common ruler, or by a common 
ethical and social code of action such as a code of honor ; — 
these are the names of a few of the most prominent men who 
recently in Europe have attracted world-wide attention in 
sociology. 

The study of social pathology and the administrative care of 
“‘ dependents, defectives, and delinquents”’ has contributed 
to the development of a true social science. The work of such 
scholars as Emminghaus, Warner, Henderson, Devine, Hun- 
ter, Kellor, Booth, Miinsterberg, and scores of others in Europe 
and America, who have attempted to find out the true nature 
of society by studying the outcroppings of the ledge of char- 
acter or the defects of socialization, and who have endeavored 
to apply sociological principles to the correction of social malad- 
justments, has been of great service to students working on 
the normal development of society. Aside from the field of 
descriptive sociology, in these fields more careful scientific 
work has been done in the endeavor to find out the exact social 
situation than in any other. Some studies of pauperism and 
crime have been alluded to in a preceding chapter, which are 
of the highest importance to the study of human relationships. 
Rapidly the practical interest of the administrator is being 
supplemented by the scientific interest of the sociologist in 
the questions of the extent and cause of these social phenomena. 

The influence of the sociological journals and reviews must 
not be passed without brief mention. The American Journal 
of Sociology, edited by Professor A. W. Small, has done more to 
promote education in sociology than any other agency in the 


1 Les lois de Vimitation; Social Laws; L’ opposition universelle. 
2 Psychologie des foules; translated The Crowd. 
3 Uber sociale Differenzierung. 


THE SCIENCE OF SOCIETY 563 


United States. Likewise, the foreign journals are performing 
a similar service in Europe. Of these the Revue internationale 
de soctologie, the Année soctologique, The Sociological Review, 
and the Revista Italiana Soctologia are especially worthy of 
mention. Popular journals and the newspapers are gradually 
adding this field to the wide range of subjects they cover. In 
fact, sociology has a wider hearing to-day than ever before. 
While some of this interest is superficial, it signifies that the 
public realizes that the sociologist is no longer a creature who 
speaks and writes in a lingo beyond the comprehension of 
educated people, but one who has something vital to say 
about the social life of to-day, — how it came to be, its es- 
sential principles, its shortcomings, and whither it is tending. 

Sociology is progressing rapidly as a science, especially as the 
points of agreement of different writers become more numerous 
and the varied nomenclature is reduced to an intelligible system. 
In closing this brief sketch of the foundation and growth of 
sociology, the following inventory of synthetic progress is 
quoted from Vincent :! “ Sociologists have by no means reached 
a consensus comparable, for example, with that of the economists, 
but when variations in terminology have been eliminated a 
considerable and everwidening area of agreement emerges 
from the apparent confusion. Thus as to society in general 
all agree that it is (1) a product of physical and psychical 
forces, (2) working in an evolutionary process in which (3) at 
first predominantly instinctive activities later yield in some meas- 
ure to (4) reflective and purposeful policies. This view regards 
society as (5) organic in the general, not specific, sense of the 
term. As to the social group as a type of common mental life 
it is further agreed that (1) individuals in their very personal 
growth unconsciously incorporate the standard of their group, 
by which they are, furthermore, (2) coerced into conscious 
conformity. The uniforming influence of imitation and group 
ascendency is counteracted by (3) leaders or authorities who 
initiate new ideas and activities to be selected and appropriated 
by all. Between such leaders with their followers a (4) struggle 
for ascendency ensues. This results ultimately in (5) a rela- 
tively permanent body of customs, and institutions embedded 


1“The Development of Sociology,” in The American Journal of Sociology, Sept., 
1904. 


564 OUTLINES OF SOCIOLOGY 


in feeling; 1.e., group tradition or character. When the mem- 
bers of this group are aware of common ideals and purposes a 
(6) social consciousness is developed.” 

While some of these writers manifest the influence of the bio- 
logical and psychological biases, the tendency has risen to study 
society without the help of that broken reed, the social organism, 
or that perhaps only less errant prejudice, that sociology is 
only a sublimated psychology. Not at all blind to the bearings 
of the biological and psychological sciences, and to the scientific 
methods developed in the natural sciences generally, especially 
in those which touch more specifically human relationships, 
the sociologists are trying to look the varied and complex social 
phenomena about them squarely in the face and to interpret 
them as a distinct class of phenomena, the social. Each may 
be investigating a particular field. One perhaps is interested 
in the psychological aspects of the social process, another in 
the biological which come out in a study of birth and death 
rates, of immigration, the age and sex classes, and still another 
may find his work in studying the social institutions and struc- 
tures in which society embodies its ideals. Less and less do 
logical schemes dominate. Increasingly the workers in this 
field of complex relationships are finding that they secure re- 
sults worth while only as they observe, describe, and interpret 
the facts of society without reference to any far-fetched analogy 
or any bias which their previous training in an older science or 
philosophy may have established. 


REFERENCES 


The American Journal of Sociology, especially articles by Small, Ward, 
Vincent, Ross, Branford, and Ratzenhofer. 
SMALL. The Meaning of Social Science. 


QUESTIONS AND EXERCISES 


1. Read Adam Smith’s chapter on Instinct in his Theory of the Moral 
Sentiments and show in what sense in that chapter he was a forerunner of 
sociology. 

2. Look over Martineau’s translation of Comte’s Positive Philosophy and 
show in what sense he was the founder of sociology. 

3. Compare Spencer’s system of sociology in its essentials with that of 
Comte. 


THE SCIENCE OF SOCIETY 565 


4. Show what is meant in the text when it is said Spencer’s sociology is a 
study of social structure. 

5. What is the fundamental social fact which is emphasized in his system 
of sociology by Spencer; by Giddings; by Tarde; by Le Bon? 

6. What criticism can be made of the effort to find some one fact in social 
life on which to base a system of sociology? 

7. What is meant by descriptive sociology? What is its value in the 
development of the science of sociology? 















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PARTIAL LIST OF BOOKS CONSULTED 


Addams, Jane. Democracy and Social Ethics, New York, 1902. 

Adler, Felix. Marriage and Divorce, New York, 1905. 

Anderson, B. M. Social Value, Boston, 1911. 

Aschaffenburg, Gustav. Crime and its Repression, Transl. by A. Albrecht, 
Boston, 1913. : 

Augustine. The City of God, New York, 1899, Transl. by Marcus Dods. 
(Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, First Series, Vol. IT.) 


Bachofen, J. J. Das Muitterrecht, Stuttgart, 1861. 

Bagehot, Walter. Physics and Politics, New York, 1808. 

Bailey, W. B. Modern Soctal Conditions, New York, 1906. 

Bain, Alexander. Mental Science, New York, 1874. 

—— Moral Science, New York, 1869. 

Baldwin, J. Mark. Dictionary of Philosophy and Psychology, New York, 
IQOI-1Q05. 

—— The Individual and Society, Boston, 1911. 

Social and Ethical Interpretations, New York, 1913. 

Barth, Paul. Die Philosophie der Geschichte als Sociologie, Leipzig, 1897. 

Barton, George A. A Sketch of Semitic Origins, New York, t1got. © 

Bellamy, Edward. Looking Backward, New York, 1800. 

Billings, John S. Psychological Aspects of the Liquor Problem, Boston, 1903, 
2 vols. 

Blackmar, F. W. Economics, New York, 1907. 

— “The Smoky Pilgrims,” American Journal of Sociology, Vol. II, pp. 
485-500, Jan. 1897. 

—— Story of Human Progress, Leavenworth, Kansas, 18096. 

— Federal and State Aid to Higher Education in the United States, United 
States Bureau of Education, Circulars of Information, No. 1, Washing- 
ton, 1890. 

Bliss, W. D. P. Encyclopedia of Social Reform, New York and London, 
1908. 

Bloomfield, Meyer. Vocational Guidance of Youth, Riverside Educational 
Monograph, Boston, rog1t. 

Bluntschli, J. K. Lehre vom modernen Staat, Stuttgart, 1876-1885. 

Theory of the State, Oxford, 1885. 

Booth, Charles, Life and Labour of the People of London, London, 1891, 
2 vols. 

Breckenridge, S. and Abbott, Edith. The Delinquent Child and the Home, 
New York, 1912. 

Briggs, C. A. The Higher Criticism of the Hexateuch, New York, 1897. 

Brinton, Daniel G. The Basis of Social Relations, New York, 1902. 


567 








568 PARTIAL LIST OF BOOKS CONSULTED 


Bryce, James. The Holy Roman Empire, New York, 1904. 

Biicher, Carl. Industrial Evolution, Transl. by Wickett, New York, 1901. 

Buckle, Thomas Henry. History of Civilization in England, London, 1857- 
1861. 


Cadbury, Edward. Women’s Work and Wages, London, 1906. 

Carver, T. N. Sociology and Social Progress, Boston, 1906. 

Chapin, F. Stuart. Introduction to Social Evolution, New York, 1913. 

Cheney, Edward P. Industrial and Social History of England, New York, 
1906. 

Cheyne, T. K. Encyclopedia Biblica, New York, 1899-1903. 

Clark, John B. Essentials of Economic Theory, New York, 1907. 

Clodd, Edward. The Story of Primitive Man, New York, 1908; The Child- 
hood of the World, New York, 1914. 

Comte, Auguste. Cours de philosophie positive, 6 vols., Paris, 1830-1842, 
Transl. by Martineau as Positive Philosophy, London, 2 vols. 

Cooley, Charles H. Social Organization, New York, 19009. 

—— Human Nature and the Social Order, New York, 1902. 

Cornill, Heinrich. The Prophets of Israel, Chicago, 1904. 

Crawley, E. The Mystic Rose, A Study of Primitive Marriage, New York, 
1902. 


Darwin, Charles. The Descent of Man, 1871. 

Davis, M. M., Jr. Psychological Interpretations of Society, New York, 1909. 

Dealey, J. Q. The Family in its Sociological Aspects, Boston, 1912. 

Dealey and Ward. Textbook of Sociology, New York, 1905. 

De Greef, Guillaume. Introduction d la Sociologie, Bruxelles and Paris, 
1886-1889. 

Dennis, James S. Christian Missions. and Social Progress, 2 vols., New 
York, 1899. 

Devine, Edward T. Principles of Relief, New York, 1904. 

Misery and its Causes, New York, 19009. 

Drahms, August. The Criminal, New York, 1900. 

Drummond, Henry. Ascent of Man, New York, 1894. 

Duckworth, W. L. H. Prehistoric Man, New York, 1912. 

Dugdale, R. L. The Jukes, 4th edition, New York, toto. 

Dunning, W. A. A History of Political Theories from Luther to Montesquieu, 
London and New York, 1905. 

Durkheim, Emile. De la division du travail social, Paris, 1893. 

—— Les régles de la méthode sociologique, Paris, 1895. 





Elderton, Ethel Mary. <A First Study of the Influence of Parental Alcoholism 
on the Physique and Ability of the Offspring, Eugenics Laboratory 
Memoirs, University of London, London, roto. 

Ellis, Havelock. The Task of Social Hygiene, Boston and New York, 1912. 

— The Criminal, New York, 1910. 

Ellwood, Charles A. Sociology and Modern Social Problems, revised and 

enlarged edition, Cincinnati, 1913. 

Sociology in its Psychological Aspects, New York, 1912. 





PARTIAL LIST OF BOOKS CONSULTED 569 


— The Social Problem, New York, tg15. 

Ely, Richard T. The Evolution of Industrial Society, New York, 1911. 
—— Socialism and Social Reform, New York, 1894. 

French and German Socialism, New York, 1900. 

— Outlines of Economics, New York, 1908. 





Fairbanks, Arthur. Introduction to Sociology, New York, 1896. 

Ferrero, Gina Lombroso. Lombroso’s Criminal Man, New York, 1912. 

Ferri, Enrico. Criminal Sociology, New York, 1896. A much better 
edition is that translated by Kelly and Lisle, Boston, 1914. 

Fetter, Frank A. Principles of Economics, revised edition, 1910. 

Fite, Warner. Individualism, New York, to1t. 

Folks, Homer. The Care of Destitute, Neglected, and Delinquent Children, 
New York and London, 1902. 

Fowle, T. W. The Poor Law, London, 1890. 

Fowler, W. W. The City State of the Greeks and Romans, London, 1893. 

Freeman, E. A. Comparative Politics, New York, 1874. 

Federal Government, London, 1863. 

Fustel de Coulanges. The Ancient City, Transl. by Willard Small, Boston, 
IgOI. 





Galton, Francis. Hereditary Genius, New York, 1871. 

Gibbins, H. de B. Industry in England, New York, 1906. 

Giddings, Franklin H. Readings in Descriptive and Historical Sociology, 
New York, 1906. 

— Inductive Sociology, New York, 1901. 

—— Elements of Sociology, New York, 1905. 

—— Principles of Sociology, New York, 1896. 

Democracy and Empire, New York, 1901. 

Gillin, J. L. The Dunkers — A Sociological Interpretation, New York, 1906. 

A History of Poor Relief Legislation in Iowa, Iowa City, 1914. 

—— “The Sociology of Recreation,” American Journal of Sociology, Chicago, 
Vol. XIX, May, 1914, p. 325. 

Goddard, H.H. Feeblemindedness : Tis Causes and Consequences, New York, 
1914. 

Goodspeed, George S. History of the Ancient World, New York, 1912. 

Gregory, Keller, and Bishop, Physical and Commercial Geography, Boston, 
IgIo. 

Guizot, F.P. G. General History of Civilization in Europe, New York, 1869. 

Gulick, Luther H. and Ayres, Leonard P. Medical Inspection of Schools, 
New York, 1908. 

Gumplowicz, Ludwig. Der Rassenkampf, Innsbruck, 1883. 

—— Outlines of Sociology, Transl. by F. W. Moore, Philadelphia, 1899. 

Gunkel, Hermann. Legends of Genesis, Transl. by W. H. Carruth, Chicago, 
IgOl. 








Harnack, Adolph. History of Dogma, Transl. by Neil Buchanan, Boston, 
1898-10901. 
Die Mission und A usbreitung des Christenthums, Transl. as The Expansion 





570 PARTIAL LIST OF BOOKS CONSULTED 


of Christianity, by James Moffat, 2 vols., London and New York, 
1905. 

—— Monasticism, London and Oxford, 1901, Transl. by E. E. Kellett and 
F. H. Morsville. 

Hastings, James. Dictionary of the Bible, 5 vols., New York, 1898-1904. 

Hatch, Edwin. The Organization of the Early Christian Churches, London, 
1882. 

Hearn, W. E. The Aryan Household, London, 1879. 

Henderson, C. R. Dependents, Defectives and Delinquents, Boston, 1901. 

—— Penal and Reformatory Institutions, New York, t1gto. 

—— Modern Methods of Charity, New York, 1904. 

Hobbes, Thomas. Leviathan, London and New York, 1887 (Morley’s 
Universal Library). 

Hooker, Richard. Ecclesiastical Polity, London and New York, 1907. 

Howard, George E. A History of Matrimonial Institutions, Chicago, 1904, 
3 vols. 

Hunter, Robert. Problems of Poverty, New York, 1905. 

Huntington, Ellsworth. The Pulse of Asia, Boston, 1907. 

Huxley, Thos. H. Evolution and Ethics, New York, 1894. 


Jastrow, Morris, Jr. The Study of Religion, New York, 1902. 
Jenks, A. E. The Bantoc Igorot, Manilla Bureau of Printing, 1905. 
Jevons, W. Stanley. Principles of Science, London and New York, 1905. 


Keane, A. H. Ethnology, Cambridge, 1909. 

Kelley, Edmond. Government or Human Evolution, New York, 1900-1901. 

Kellor, Frances. Experimental Sociology, New York, 1got. 

Kidd, Benjamin. Western Civilization, New York, 1902. 

—— Social Evolution, New York, 1895. 

Kidd, Dudley. The Essential Kaffir, London, 1904. 

King, Irving. The Development of Religion, New York, 1910. 

Koren, John. Economic Aspects of the Liquor Problem, Boston and New 
York, 1902. 

Kropotkin, P. A. Mutual Aid: A Factor in Evolution, New York, 1904. 


Laveleye, Emile de. Primitive Property, London, 1878. 

Le Bon, Gustave. The Crowd, New York, 1897. 

Lecky, W. E. H. A History of European Morals, New York, 1870. 

Leroy-Beaulieu, P. The Modern State, Transl. by A. C. Morant, London, 
1891. La question de la population, Paris, 1913. 

Letourneau, Charles. La Sociologie d’aprés Vlethnographie, Paris, 1880 
and 1892. 

Levasseur, Emile. La population francaise: histoire de la population avant 
1789 et démographie de la France comparée a cella des autres nationes au 
Ige siécle, Paris, 1889-1892, 3 vols. 

Lichtenberger, J. P. Divorce: A Study in Social Causation, New York, 
1909. 

Lilienfeld, Paul von. Zur vertheidigung des organischen methode in der 
soctologie, Berlin, 1808. 


PARTIAL LIST OF BOOKS CONSULTED 571 


Locke, John. TJTwo Treatises on Civil Government, London, 1887. 

Lombroso, Cesare. Causes and Remedies of Crime, English translation, 1912. 

Lombroso, Cesare, and Ferrero, G. The Female Offender, New York, 1895. 

Loos, I. A. Studies in the Politics of Aristotle and the Republic of Plato, lowa 
City, 1899. 

Lubbock, Sir John. Origin of Civilization, 1874. 


McCulloch, Oscar C. The Tribe of Ishmael, Indianapolis, 1888. 

MacDonald, Arthur. Criminology, New York, 1893. 

Mackenzie, John S. Introduction to Social Philosophy, Glasgow, 1890, and 
New York, 1895. 

McLennan, John Ferguson. Studies in Ancient History. Comprising a 
Reprint of Primitive Marriage, London, 1876. 

—— The Patriarchal Theory. Edited and completed by Donald McLennan, 
London, 1885. 

Mallock, W. H. Labor and Popular Welfare, London, 1896. 

—— Aristocracy and Evolution, New York, 1808. 

Mayo-Smith, Richmond. Statistics and Sociology, New York, 1904. 

Miles, H. E. Industrial Education, The Impending Step in American 
Educational Policy, Madison, 1912. 

Mill, Hugh R. International Geography, New York, 1900. 

Mitchell, H. G. The World Before Abraham, Boston, 1901. 

Moeller, Wilhelm. History of the Christian Church, Transl. by Rutherford, 
3 vols., New York, 1808. 

More, Thomas. Utopia, London, 1904. (Temple Classics.) 

Morgan, Lewis H. Ancient Society, New York, 1871. 

Mulford, E. The Nation, New York, 1871. 


Nordau, Max. Degeneration, New York, 1806. 
Novicow, J. Les luttes entre sociétés humaines, Paris, 1896. 


Oppenheimer, Franz. The State, Transl. by John M. Gitterman, Indian- 
apolis, 1914. 


Parmelee, Maurice. The Science of Human Behavior, New York, 1913. 

Parsons, Elsie Clews. The Family, New York, 1906. 

Patten, Simon N. Theory of the Social Forces, Philadelphia, 1896. 

Heredity and Social Progress, New York, 1903. 

Pearson, Karl. Grammar of Science, London, 1892. 

National Life from the Standpoint of Science, London, 1901. 

— Chances of Death and Other Studies in Evolution, London and New York 
1897, 2 vols. 

Peschel, O. The Races of Man, New York, 1879. 

Plato, The Republic, Transl. by Vaughan and Davies, London, 1914. 

Pumpelly, Raphael. Explorations in Turkestan, 2 vols., Washington, 1905. 








Quetelet, L.A. Physique Sociale, Bruxelles, 1869. 


Ratzel, Friedrich. The History of Mankind, New York, 1896-1808, 3 vols. 
Ratzenhofer, Gustav. Die Sociologische Erkenniniss, Leipzig, 18098. 


572 PARTIAL LIST OF BOOKS CONSULTED 


Richmond, M. E. Friendly Visiting, New York, 1899. 

Riis, Jacob A. The Children of the Poor, New York, 1892. 

How the Other Half Lives, New York, 1892. 

Robinson, J. H. History, Columbia University Press, 1908. 

Romanes, Geo. John. Mental Evolution in Man: Origin of Human Faculty, 
London, 1888, New York, 1880. 

Ross, E. A. Social Psychology, New York, 1908. 

Foundations of Sociology, New York, 1905. 

—— Social Control, New York, Igor. 

Rousseau, Jean Jacques. The Social Contract, Transl. by H. J. Tozer, 
London, 1895. 








Schaeffle, Albert E.F. Bau und Leben des socialen Korpers, Tiibingen, 1875- 
1878 and 1881. 

Schémann, G. F. Antiquities of Greece: The State, Transl. by Hardy and 
Mann, London, 1880. 

Schurman, J. G. The Ethical Import of Darwinism, London, 1888. 

Semple, Ellen C. Influence of Geographical Environment, New York, 1911. 

Small, Albion W. General Sociology, Chicago and London, 1905. 

The Meaning of Social Science, Chicago, 19Io. 

Small, Albion W., and Vincent, George E. Introduction to the Study of 
Society, Cincinnati, 1894. 

Smith, Adam. Theory of Moral Sentiments, Bohn edition, 1892. 

Smith, Geo. Adam. Historical Geography of the Holy Land, New York, 
1903. 

Smith, Samuel G. Social Pathology, New York, to1t. 

Sohm, Rudolph. Outlines of Church History, Transl. by Sinclair, New York, 
IgOl. 

Spencer, Herbert. Essays, “‘The Social Organism,’”’ New York, 1874. 

Principles of Sociology, 3 vols., New York, 1891-1897. 

Social Statics, New York, 1873. 

Principles of Ethics, New York, 1893, 1906, 1907, IQIO-IQI2. 

—— Study of Sociology, New York, 1880. 

Spencer, Baldwin, and Gillen, Francis James. Northern Tribes of Central 
Australia, London and New York, 1904. 

—— Native Tribes of Central Australia, London and New York, 1899. 

Starr, Frederick. Some First Steps in Human Progress, Cleveland, 1901. 

Stuckenberg, J. H. W. Introduction to the Study of Sociology, New York, 
1898. 

—— Sociology, New York, 1903. 

Sullivan, W. Alcoholism, London, 1906. 

Sumner, William G. Folkways: A Study of the Sociological Importance of 
Usages, Manners, Customs, Mores, and Morals, Boston, 1907. 

Sutherland, A. Origin and Growth of the Moral Instinct, London, 1898. 

Sutherland, J. Recidivism, Edinburgh, 1908. 














Tarde, Gabriel. Laws of Imitation, Transl. by Elsie Clews Parsons, New 
York, 1903. 
—— Social Laws, Transl. by Howard C. Warren, New York, 1809. 


PARTIAL LIST OF BOOKS CONSULTED 573 





La logique sociale, Paris, 1895. 

Les lois de limitation, Paris, 1890 and 1895. 

Taylor, Hugh. The Morality of Nations, London, 1888. 

Thackeray, S. W. The Land and the Community, New York, 18809. 

Thomas, W. H. Source Book for Social Origins, Chicago and London, 

1909. 

Sex and Society, Chicago, 1907. - 

Tiele,C. P. Elements of the Science of Religion, Gifford Lectures, 2 vols., New 
York, 1898. 

Topinard, Paul. Anthropology, London, 1894. 

Tylor, Edward B. Anthropology (International Scientific Series), New 
York, 1899. 

—— Primitive Culture, New York, 1874. 








Ulhorn, Gerhard. Charity in the Christian Church. 


Walker, Francis A. The Land and its Rent, Boston, 1883. 

Political Economy, New York, 1888. 

Wallis, Graham. The Great Society, New York, 1914. 

Walter, Herbert Eugene. Genetics, New York, 1914. 

Ward, E. J. The Social Center, New York, 1913. 

Ward, Lester F. Psychic Factors of Civilization, Boston, 1893. 

Dynamic Sociology, 2 vols., New York, 1883. 

—— Outlines of Sociology, New York, 1904. 

—— Pure Sociology, New York, 1907. 

Applied Sociology, Boston, 1906. 

Warner, Amos G. American Charities, revised edition, New York, 1908. 

Warner, George Townsend. Landmarks of English Industrial History, 
London and New York, 1899. 

Webster, Hutton. Primitive Secret Societies, New York, 1908. 

Weismann, August. Studien zur descendenz-theorie, Leipzig, 1875-1876. 

Westermarck, Edward. History of Human Marriage, London, 1901. 

—— Origin and Development of Moral Ideas, London, 1906-1908. 

Wilcox, W. F. The Divorce Problem: A Study in Statistics, New York, 
18gI. 

Williams, C. M. A Review of the Systems of Ethics founded on the Theory 
of Evolution, London, 1893. 

Willoughby, W. W. The Nature of the State, New York, 1806. 

Wilson, Woodrow. The State, Boston, 1900. 

Wines, F. H. Punishment and Reformation, New York, 1895. 

Wright, Carroll D. Practical Sociology, New York, 1906. 

Wundt, W. Principles of Morality: Facts of the Moral Life, London, 1897- 
IgOI. 














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INDEX 


Abnormal society, normal distinguished | Assisi, Francis of, 254, 357. 


from, 425. 

Abraham, 262. 

Accident, inequalities arising from, 402. 

Accumulation of wealth, slow, 192. 

Activities, anti-social, 90; cultural, 88; 
moral, 87; social, 15. 

Adaptation of the forces of nature to man, 
progress by, 410. 

Addams, Jane, 535. 

Administration, methods 
methods of public, 515; 
in civil causes, 182. 

Adoption, 57. 

Adultery as ground of divorce, 146. 

Advancement of the group, 87. 

Advertising and exchange, 214. 

Advocates of socialistic theories, 382. 

Aggregation, 271; causes of, 54; de- 
velopment of groups out of social, 
94. 

Ainu, 510. 

Alfred, 174, 543. 

Almy, Frederick, 468. 

Altruism, egoism versus, 230. 

Amos, 254, 300. 

Analysis, 534. 

Ancestor worship, 120, 252, 253. 

Ancient leadership, 389. 

Ancient monogamic family, 119. 

Ancient philosophers, 542. 

Animals, the society of, 53. 

Animal society, o. 

Anti-social activities, 90. 

Appearance, forbidding personal, 442. 

Appetites, unhealthful, 440. 

Approved modes of acquiring wealth, 
216. 

Arbiter of justice, 409. 

Aristophanes, 208. 

Aristotle, 176, 177, 381, 450, 542. 

Aronovici, Dr. Carol, 536. 

Art, control by means of, 350. 

Articulation of parts, closer, 415. 

Aschaffenburg, Gustav, 480, 481, 482. 

Ashley, W. J., 558. 


OL ueeSiA; 
of justice 


Association, 273; means of control 
arising from voluntary, 367; primary 
result of, 320. 

Associations, codperative, 
tional, 6; voluntary, 6. 

Athenian democracy, 379. 

Attachment to the soil, 70. 

Attempt to realize a perfect social state 
through government, 379. 

Atwater, Professor, 444. 

Augustine, Saint, 254, 307, 357, 381, 
543. 

Augustus, 461. 


90; educa- 


Baboeuf, F. N., 382, 546. 

Bachofen, J. J., 113. 

Bacon, Francis, 381, 382, 545. 

Bad industrial and economic conditions, 
451. 

Bagehot, Walter, 343. 

Bailey, W. B., 557. 

Bain, Alexander, 223. 

Baldwin, J. Mark, 224, 225, 245, 246, 
339, 420. 

Bantu negroes, 510. 

Barth, Paul, 30. 

Basis, of social action, land or nature as 
a, 195; of social order, 350; of socio- 
logical thought, 552. — 

Beginning, of federation of states, 169; 
of justice, 64; of social organization, 
55: 

Being, non-social, 508. 

Belief, control through, 352. 

Bellamy, 381, 384. 

Benini, Professor, 557. 

Billings, J. S., 502. 

Blackmar, F. W., 437. 

Blanc, Louis, 383, 546, 547, 548. 

Bonhoffer, 482. 

Booth, Charles, 535, 562. 

Branthwaite, Dr., sor. 

Browning, Mrs. E. B., 231, 301. 

Biicher, Carl, 297. 

Buckle, Thomas Henry, 67, 69. 


575 


576 


Buddha, 267. 

Buffalo, 536. 

Burgess, J. W., 158. 

Biisch, Professor, 466. 
Bushnell, Professor C. J., 435. 


Cabet, Etienne, 381, 382, 546, 547, 540. 

Cabrillo, 261. 

Cesar, Augustus, 461. 

Calixtus, 254, 266. 

Calvin, John, 379. 

Campanella, 381, 544, 545. 

Capital, service of, in the production of 
wealth, 197. 

Care, necessity of, 513; of the poor and 
incapable, 185. 

Carlyle, Thomas, 549. 

Carnot, 491. 

Caserio, 491. 

Causes, of changes in economic processes, 
sociological, 199; of crime, 481; of 
growth of divorce, 146; of poverty, 
immediate and remote, 436. 

Causes of crime, classification of, 486; 
social, 484. 

Ceremony, social control by, 358. 

Changes, from homogeneity to hetero- 
geneity, 102; in the social position of 
women, 147. 

Change versus progress, 414. 

Characteristics, of social pathology, 
426; of the individual, 436; of the 
state, 157. 

Character of the land and the develop- 
ment of society, 68. 

Charities, indorsement of, 473. 

Charity, giving among the Romans, 460; 
Hamburg-Elberfeld system of, 465; 
Indiana system of, 470; of the 
Christian Church, 462; of the state, 
464; results of charity of the church, 
463; universality of, among nations, 


458. 

Charity organization in the United 
States, 472. 

Charity organization movement, rise 
of, 472. 


Charlemagne, 547, 540. 

Cheney, Edward P., 109. 

Choice, of the people, rational, 411; laws 
of individual, 317; laws of social, 
310. 

Choosing mates, irrational methods of, 
148; psychological and social factors 
in, 154. 


INDEX 


Christ, 384. 

Christian Church, charity of the, 462. 

Church, results of charity of the, 463. 

Cicero, 542. 

City-State, 164. 

Classes, struggle of, 199. 

Classification, of causes of crime, 486; 
of crime, 488; of criminals, 488; of 
inmates of institutions, 518; of social 
forces, 283. 

Closer articulation of parts, 415. 

Closer integration of society, 414. 

Code, Deuteronomic, 547; Priest’s, 547; 
Mosaic, 547. 

Combination, 277. 

Common ethical sentiment, 61. 

Commons, John R., 159, 160, 172. 

Communication, 272; methods of, 7. 

Comparison of the biological with the 
social organism, 17. 

Complexity, of belief and ceremony, 262; 
of problem of origin of religion, 253; 
of the social order, 10. 

Complex nature of social production, 
193- 

Composition, social, 95. 

Comte, Auguste, 41, 240, 553, 555. 
Conditions, bad industrial and economic, 
451; of primitive family life, 1109. 

Condorcet, M. J. A., 553. 

Conflict with nature, 68. 

Consciousness, of kind, 166; social, 331. 

Conscious resemblance, law of, 321. 

Conscious social effort, 312. 

Consolidation of groups, 57. 

Constituent parts of society, 100. 

Constitution, the social, 99. 

Consumption, economy of, 201; social, 
200. 

Contract, government, 174; rights be- 
tween individuals, 181; social, 175. 

Control, by ceremony, 358; by means 
of art, 359; by personal ideals, 357; 
by social religion, 356; by social sug- 
gestion, 354; idea of, in a democracy, 
390; means of, arising from voluntary 
association, 367; means of, through 
public opinion and law, 368; origin of, 
by force, 388; through influence of 
personal suggestion, 360; through in- 
tellectual factors, 363. 

Cooley, Charles H., 109, 279, 330, 561. 

Coolidge, Mrs. Mary R., 518. 

Codperation, 276. 

Codperative association, go. 


INDEX 


Cornill, Heinrich, 266. 

Cosmic and ethical processes of society, 
16. 

Course of reasoning, 41. 

Court of domestic relations, 153. 

Crane, Caroline Bartlett, 536. 

Crime, causes of, 481; classification of 
causes of, 486; classifications of, 488; 
definition and punishment of, 182; 
extent and cost of, 478; influences of 
physical nature on, 484; nature of, 
478; punishment of, 494; social 
causes of, 484. 

Criminals, classification of, 488. 

Cromwell, Oliver, 370, 545. 

Crude and meager nature of primitive 
religious practice, 257. 

Cruelty as a cause of divorce, 146. 

Cultural activities, 88. 

Cyprian, 254, 266, 463. 

Czolgosz, 491. 


Daniel, 381. 

Danielson and Davenport, 437. 

Dante, 544. 

Darwin, Charles, 14, 54, 126, 223, 224, 
226, 524. 

Data of other sciences, 40, 527. 

Defective government, 448. 

Defectives, 428. 

Definition, and punishment of crime, 
182; of legal relations between man 
and wife and between parents and 
children, 180. 

Degeneration, nature of social, 
through intemperance, 500. 

De Greef, Guillaume, 332, 524, 550. 

Demme, 131. 

Democracy, idea of control in a, 390; 
ideal, 410; social will of, 391. 

Dependence of the individual, 3. 

De Roberty, 556. 

Desires, zsthetic, 301; affective, 204; 
appetitive, 290; egotic, 293; ethical, 
300; hedonic, 291; individual, in- 
stinctive in origin, 290; instinctive- 
cultural in origin, 298; instinctive- 
social in origin, 293; intellectual, 
302; recreative, 295; religious, 208. 

Determination, of contract rights be- 
tween individuals, 181; of liability for 
debt or crime, 181; of political duties, 
privileges, and relations of citizens, 
182. 

Deuteronomic Code, 547. 


2.P 


499; 


577 


Development, of civil justice, 235; of 
groups out of social aggregations, 94; 
of justice, 232; of social structures, 
law of, 324; of sociology, historical, 
541; of sociology, recent, 558; social, 
67. 

Devine, Edward T., 438, 503, 562. 

Difference in divorce rate, between dif- 
ferent countries, 141; between dif- 
ferent occupations, 141; between 
different states, 141; between the 
sexes, IAI. 

Differentiation, 280; an evidence of 
progress, 101; of organs or parts, 98; 
of political organs and functions, 168; 
of social sciences, 23; of society in 
structure and function, 415. 

Disapproved modes of acquiring wealth, 
2106. 

Disease, 438. 

Disregard of family ties, 444. 

Distribution of divorces, 139; in United 
States, geographic, 141. 

Divine origin of the state, 173. 

Divorce, adultery as cause of, 146; 
causes of the growth of, 146; cruelty 
as cause of, 146; distribution of, 130; 
economic causes explain in part, 147; 
geographic distribution of, 141; 
grounds of, 145; increase of, 138; 
probability of, 145; proposed remedies 
for, 150. 

Divorce in the United States compared 
with other countries, 141. 

Domestic relations, court of, 153. 

Draehms, August, 490. 

Dubois, 52. 

Dugdale, Robert L., 437, 409, 503. 

Durkheim, Emile, 103, 557. 

Dwights, the, 507. 


Early forms of marriage, 116. 

Economic basis of family life, 121. 

Economic causes explain divorce in part, 
147; 

Economic changes and their effects upon 
the family, 122. 

Economic conditions, 
and, 451. 

Economic goods or wealth produced to 
satisfy desires, 192. 

Economic life, 6. 

Economic processes, sociological causes 
of changes in, 199. 

Economists, influence of, 557. 


bad industrial 


578 


Economy of consumption, 201. 

Education, 185; misdirected and in- 
adequate, 450; pathology of, 431; 
to improve public opinion, 394; to 
improve type of government, 394; 
to what extent must laws be supported 
by, 395. 

Educational associations, 6. 

Edwards, the, 507. 

Effects, of immorality, 505; of other 
social changes upon the home, 124; 
of social progress upon methods of 
exchange, 210. 

Effort, conscious social, 312. 

Efforts to satisfy wants the basis of 
society, 73. 

Egoism versus altruism in social develop- 
ment, 230. 

Elizabeth, 464. 

Ellis, Havelock, 490. 

Ellwood, Charles A., 141, 286, 320, 561. 

Ely," ROT 5's835) 558: 

Emminghaus, A., 562. 

Employees and officials of institutions, 
merit system among, 518. 

English Poor Law, 465; 
465. 

Environment, influence of the physical, 
445; influence of the social, 290. 

Equality, ideals of, 386. 

Equalization, of industrial opportunities, 
417; of political opportunities, 416. 

Essential functions of the state, 179. 

Ethical practice through sympathy, 
progress of, 220. 

Ethical sentiment, common, 61. 

Ethics, genesis of, 222; nature of, 220; 
social importance of, 220. 

Ethnic basis of the state, 160. 

Eugenic marriage laws, 151. 

Evil habits, 483. 

Evolutionary theory, 178. 

Evolution of man, moral, 228. 

Exchange, advertising and, 214; depen- 
dent upon extensive transport, 213; 
effects of social progress upon methods 
of, 210; social effects of, 207; social 
importance of, 206; use of money to 
facilitate, 211. 

Experimental social philosophers, 547. 

Experiments, modern socialistic, 383. 

Extensive exchange dependent upon 
transport, 213. 

Extent of crime, 478; of poverty, 435. 

Ezekiel, 381. 


revision of, 


INDEX 


Family, the, 7; ancient monogamic, 
Img; as a social unit, 112; economic 
changes and their effects on, 122, 
education of women and the size of, 
134; genesis of forms of, 114; mar- 
riage rate and, 128; metronymic, 113; 
pathology of, 428; patriarchal, 120; 
patronymic, 113; physical degeneracy 
and the size of, 135; primitive, 112; 
race suicide and, 129; small or large, 
127; social status of, 136; woman’s 
movement and the size of, 134. 

Family ideals, liberalization of thought 
and its effects upon, 125. 

Family life, conditions of primitive, 119; 
economic basis of, 121; influence of 
religion on, 120. 

Family organization, psychical influences 
on, I2I. 

Family ties, disregard of, 444. 

Federated groups, 96. 

Federation of states, beginnings of, 169. 

Feeling, 338. 

Fénelon, 546. 

Feré, Charles, 499. 

Ferri, Eurica, 493. 

Field work, 525. 

Food, laws relating to the manufacture, 
sale, and consumption of certain 
kinds of, 186; unwholesome and 
poorly cooked, 444. 

Forbidding personal appearance, 442. 

Force, a temporary check on insubordi- 
nation; 393; in government, ideal of, 
389; of war, 65. 

Forces, power of psychical, 346; prog- 
ress by adaptation of forces of nature 
to man, 419; psychic, 338. 

Forerunners of sociology, 552. 

Formal expressions of the social mind, 
336. 

Formation of the social mind, steps in 
the, 334. 

Form of social codperation, 4. 

Forms of society, 5. 

Formulation of a science of society, 11 

Founders of sociology, 553. 

Fourier, 382, 546. 

Fowle, T. U., 465. 

Francis, Saint, 254, 357. 

Functions of the state, essential, 179; 
optional, 183. 


Galileo, 266. 
Galton, Francis, 557. 


INDEX 


Gautama, 254. 

General investigation, 531. 

Genesis, of ethics, 222; of forms of the 
family, 114. 

Genius and origin of religion, 254. 

Gentes as political units, 162. 

Geographic distribution of divorces in 
the United States, 141. 

Gesell, A. R., 437. 

Giddings, F. H., 9, 13, 14, 67, 60, 74, 
96, 107, 118, 158, 162, 188, 241, 240, 
275, 276, 310, 322, 330, 342, 524, 557, 
560. 

Giving among the Romans, 460. 

Goddard, H. H., 436, 483, 503, 504, 505. 

Good, the greatest, 373. 

Gothenberg system, 441. 

Governing class, rise of the, 380. 

Government, contract, 174; defective, 
448; ideal of force in, 380. 

Gracchus, Caius, 461. 

Grounds of divorce, 145. 

Group, marriage, 118; non-social, 432. 

Groups, consolidation of, 57; enlarge- 
ment of kinship, 166; federated, 96; 
of social sciences, 26; relation of the 
individual to the group, 103; the 
primary, 103. 

Growth, of divorce, causes of, 146; of 
population in relation to land areas, 
79- 

Grozier, 550. 

Gumplowicz, Ludwig, 32, 324, 524, 561. 


Habitable land areas, 77. 


Habits, evil, 483; shiftlessness and 
idle, 443. 

Hadrian, 461. 

Hamburg-Elberfeld system of charity, 
465. 


Happiness, nature of, 375. 

Harnack, Adolph, 462. 

Harrington, 545. 

Healy, William, 482. 

Hedin, Sven, 243, 308. 

Hegel, 30. 

Henderson, Charles R., 486, 490, 562. 

Henry VIII, 464. 

Hereditary influences, 506. 

Heterogeneity, changes 
geneity to, 102. 

Hildebrand, 557. 

Hindu doctrine, 353. 


from homo- 


579 


Hobbes, Thomas, 175. 
Hodge, Professor, 502. 

Holding, transmission, and interchange 
of property, regulation of the, 18r. 
Home, effects of other social changes 
upon the, 124. 
Hood, Thomas, 301. 


‘Hooker, Richard, 175. 


Horde, the, 55. 

Hosea, 254, 263. 

Human society, 9, 523. 

Hume, 240, 249, 545. 

Hunter, Robert, 435, 535, 562. 
Huxley, Thomas H., 266, 524. 


Idea, of control in a democracy, 300; 
of self-government demands _ intelli- 
gence, 303. 

Ideal democracy, 410. 

Ideal of force in government, 389. 

Ideals, control by personal, 357; of 
equality, 386; of philosophers, 380; 
social, 373. 

Idle habits, shiftlessness and, 443. 

Imitation, laws of, 320. 

Immediate and remote causes of poverty, 
436. 

Immediate social aim, 376. 

Immorality, effect of, 505. 

Importance of well-being, 194. 

Improvement, of public opinion by 
general education of all members of 
society, 394; of race or stock, 416; 
of social organization, 215; of type 
of government by education, 3094. 

Impulsive social action, laws of, 322. 

Increased service of wealth in behalf 
of humanity, 418. 

Increase of divorces, 138; of population, 
72. 

Indiana system of charity, 470. 

Individual, characteristics of the, 436; 
dependence of the, 3; relation of, to 
the mass, 409. 

Individual characteristics, inequalities 
arising from, 399. 

Individual choice, laws of, 317. 

Individual desires instinctive in origin, 
290. 

Individualism versus socialism, 385. 

Individuals, social classification of, 399. 

Indolence, undervitalization and, 437. 

Indorsement of charities, 473. 


Historical development of sociology, 541. | Industrial classes of traders, rise of, 


Historic theories of origin of religion, 240. 


212, 


580 


Industrial opportunities, equalization of, 
4I7. 

Industry, state management of, 184. 

Inequalities, arising from accident, 402; 
arising from individual characteristics, 
399; arising from the natural environ- 
ment, 400; arising from social en- 
vironment, 403. 

Inequality, modification of, 405. 

Influence, of economists, 557; of personal 
suggestion, control through, 360; of 
physical environment, 445; of religion 
on family life, 120; of religion on 
social development, 239; of the social 
environment, 290, 446. 

Influences, hereditary, 506. 

Injustice, resentment of, 352. 

Inmates, classification of, 518. 

Insubordination, force a temporary check 
on, 393. 

Integration, conscious, 97; necessity of 
social, 94; of society, closer, 414. 

Intellectual factors, social control 
through, 363. 

Intellectual interests, 310. 

Intelligence, idea of self-government de- 
mands, 393. 

Intemperance, degeneration through, 500. 

Interests, intellectual, 310; political, 
305; religious, 307; wealth, 305; 
welfare, 311. 

Investigation, general, 531; special, 532. 

Irrational methods of choosing mates, 
148. 

Isaiah, 254, 263, 381. 

Ishmaels, the, 505. 


Jastrow, Morris, Jr., 244. 

Jehovah, 381. 

Jenks, J. W., 104. 

Jeremiah, 255. 

Jerusalem, 381. 

Jesus, 254, 255, 267, 300, 307. 

Judah, 381. 

Judgment, lack of, 439. 

Jukes, the, 505, 507. 

Jupiter, 258. 

Justice, Administration of, in civil 
causes, 182; arbiter of, 409; begin- 
ning of, 64; development of, 232; 
development of civil, 235; nature of, 
408; origin of natural, 234; sense of, 
351; transition of natural to civil, 
235. 

Justinian, 542. 


INDEX 


Kellogg, Paul U., 534. 

Kellor, Frances, 562. 

Kidd, Benjamin, 298, 320, 550. 

King, Irving, 242, 245, 246, 247, 248, 249. 
Kingsley, Charles, 385, 540. 

Kinship, 56, 159. 

Kite, Miss Elizabeth S., 437. 

Knies, Karl, 557. 

Knowledge, 343. 

Koren, John, 503. 


Labor, as means of wealth production, 
196; regulation of, 184. 

Lack of judgment, 439. 

Land, the various uses of, 71. 

Land areas, growth of population in 
relation to, 79; habitable, 77. 

Land or nature as a basis of social 
action, 195. 

Land tenure, various forms of, 80. 

Lange, 499. 

Language, the origin of, 58. 

Lawgivers, traditions of, 174. 

Laws, of conscious resemblance, 321; 
of development of social structures, 
324; of imitation, 320; of impulsive 
social action, 322; of individual 
choice, 317; of M. Tarde, 316; of 
social aims, 319; of social choice, 
319; of spiritual development, 325; 
of survival and progress, 326; of 
sympathy, 321; of tradition, 323; 
relating to the manufacture, sale, 
and consumption of certain kinds of 
food, 186. 

Leadership, ancient, 389. 

Le Bon, Gustave, 562. 

Legal relations between man and wife 
and between parents and children, 
definition of, 180. 

Le Play, P: G..F.> 537, 

Leppmann, Fritz, 482. 

Leroy-Beaulieu, P., 557. 

Leslie, Thomas Edward Cliffe, 557. 

Letourneau, Charles, 31. 

Levasseur, Pierre Emile, 557. 

Liability for debt or crime, determination 
of, 181. 

Liberalization of thought and its effects 
upon family ideals, 125. 

Library, the use of, 524. 

Lichtenberger, James P., 140. 

Life conditions, has each succeeding 
generation better, 415. 

Limitation of the subject of study, 530. 


INDEX 


Limits of the powers of the state, 186. 
Locke, John, 175. 

Lombroso, Cesare, 481, 482, 488, 480. 
Lotze, Hermann, 550. 

Lowell, James Russell, 507. 

Lubbock, Sir John, 240. 

Lucretius, 240. 

Luther, Martin, 254, 357. 

Luxury, 202. 

Lycurgus, 174, 547, 548. 


Mably, G. B. de, 546. 

Machiavelli, N. di B., 544. 

MacKenzie, J. S., 550. 

McKinley, William, gor. 

McLennan, J. F., 113, 116. 

Madison, James, 408. 

Malinowski, B., 120. 

Mallock, W. H., 280, 508. 

Malthus, Thomas, 195, 196, 547; theory 
of, 195. 

Manitou, 242. 

Man touches nature at an increasing 
number of points, 60. 

Map of the sociological field, 42, 43. 


Marriage, early forms of, 116; group, 
118; raising the social ideals of, 
153; Yregulation of, as remedy for 


divorce, I51. 

Marriage laws, eugenic, 151. 

Marriage rate and the family, 128. 

Marx, Karl, 383. 

Maurice, F. D., 385, 5409. 

Mayo-Smith, Richmond, 129, 557. 

Means of control, arising from voluntary 
association, 367; through public 
opinion and law, 368. 

Meaning of social control, 340. 

Medicine man and priest, services of, 259. 

Medieval philosophers, 543. 

Mendelian Law, 506, 528. 

Mental emancipation of women, 148. 

Merit system among employees and offi- 
cials of institutions, 518. 

Methods, of administration, 514; of 
communication, 7; of public adminis- 
tration, 515. 

Metronymic family, 113. 

Micah, 263. 

Mill, John Stuart, 546, 553. 

Misdirected and inadequate education, 
450. 

Modern philosophers, 545; social state, 
170; socialism, 382; socialistic ex- 
periments, 383. 


581 


Modification of inequality, 405. 
Mohammed, 254, 267. 

Money, use of, to facilitate exchange, 211. 
Monogamy, 118. 

Montesquieu, C. L. de S., 67, 546, 553. 
Moore, Dr. Frank, 482. 

Moral and esthetic activities, 87. 
Moral evolution of man, 228. 

More, Thomas, 381, 544, 545. 

Morel, Jules, 481, 490. 

Morgan, Lewis H., 114. 

Morley, John, 159. 

Morris, William, 5409. 

Morrow, Prince A., 131. 

Morton, Dr. Rosalie S., 132. 

Mosaic codes, 547. 

Moses, 174, 547. 

Miiller, Max, 243, 244. 

Mumford, Eben, 559. 

Miinsterberg, Hugo, 562. 


Nansen, Fridjof, 531. 

Natural conditions that influence society, 
288. 

Natural environment, inequalities aris- 
ing from, 400. 

Natural phenomena, sacred places and, 
261. 

Natural races, 75. 

Nature, conflict with, 68; of crime, 
478; of ethics, 220; of happiness, 
375; of justice, 408; of social degenera- 
tion, 499; of social production, com- 
plex, 193; of society, 7; of the state, 
157. 

Necessity, of care for weak and abnormal, 
513; of social integration, 94. 

Need of scientific study, 1o. 

Nero, 461. 

Newman, John Henry, Cardinal, 254. 

Non-social being, 508. 

Non-social group, 432. 

Nordau, Max, 499. 

Normal distinguished from abnormal 
society, 425. 

Novicow, Jacques, 32, 550. 

Numa, 174. 


Object of society, 36. 

Observance of scientific method, 44. 

Optional function of the state, 183. 

Order, social, 180. 

Organic conception of society, 16, 556. 

Organization, 278; of industry, social 
effects of, 197; tribal, 164. 


582 


Oriental monarchy, 380. 

Origin, of control by force, 388; of 
language, 58; of natural justice, 234; 
of public control, 63; of religion, 2490; 
of religion and revelation, 239; of 
the state, 150. 

Other sciences, data of, 40, 527. 

Other social organs, 104. 

Out-relief, principles of, 475. 

Owen, Robert, 547, 540. 


Pathology, of education, 431; of the 
family, 428; of the state, 430. 

Patriarchal family, 120. 

Patronymic family, 114. 

Patten, Simon N., 366. 

Paul, Saint, 254, 255, 267, 300, 307. 

Pauperism, 427. 

Pearson, Karl, 131, 557. 

Perpetuation of the social group, 85. 

Personal appearance, forbidding, 442. 

Personal ideals, control by, 357. 

Philanthropy, unwise, 453. 

Philosophers, ancient, 542; experimen- 
tal social, 547; ideals of, 380; 
medieval, 543; modern, 545. 

Philosophy, of charity, 457; 
549. 

Phratry, purposes of the, 163. 

Physical degeneracy and the size of, the 
family, 135. 

Physical environment, influences of, 445. 

Physical nature, 67; influences of, on 
crime, 484. 

Physical pressure, 50. 

Pilgrim’s Progress, 360. 

Pinel, 481. 

Pittsburgh Survey, 534, 535- 

Plato, 380, 381, 542. 

Polis or city-state, 164. 

Political duties, privileges, and relations 
of citizens, determination of the, 182. 

Political interests, 305. 

Political life, 5. 

Political opportunities, equalization of, 
416. 

Political organs and _ functions, 
ferentiation of, 168. 

Political units, gentes as, 162. 

Polyandry, 118. 

Polygyny, 118. 

Poor and incapable, care of the, 185. 

Pope Leo XIII, 254. 

Population, increase of, 72. 

Posnet, H. M., 557. 


recent, 


dif- 


INDEX 


Poverty, extent of, 435; immediate and 
remote causes of, 436. 

Power of psychical forces, 346. 

Powers of the state, limits of, 186. 

Preservation of the social group, 84. 

Pressure, physical, 59; social, 60. 

Priest’s code, 547. 

Primary groups, 103. 

Primary result of association, 3209. 

Primitive family, 112. 

Primitive religious practice, crude and 
meager nature of, 257. 

Principles of scientific out-relief, 475. 

Probability of divorce, 145. 

Processes of social production, sociologi- 
cal effects of changes in, 108. 

Production of economic goods or wealth 
to satisfy desires, 192. 

Program of reform, 497. 

Progress, by adaptation of the forces 
of nature to man, 419; change versus, 
414; of ethical practice through 
sympathy, 229; of sociology, 555. 

Prometheus, 254. 

Prominent forces in state building, 165. 

Proposed remedies for divorce, 150. 

Protection of person and property from 
violence and robbery, provision for. 
180, 

Proudhon, 181, 546. 

Provision for protection of person and 
property from violence and robbery 
18o. 

Psychic forces, 338. 

Psychical influences in family organiza- 
tion, 121. 

Psychological factors in choosing mate, 
154. 

Public control, origin of, 63. 

Publicists, theories of, 176. 

Public opinion and law, means of control 
through, 368. 

Punishment of crime, 182, 404. 

Purpose, sociological, 529. 

Purposes of the phratry, 163. 


Quetelet, 557. 


Race conflict and amalgamation, 161. 

Race or stock, improvement of, 416. 

Race suicide and the family, 129. 

Races, the natural, 75. 

Raising the social ideals of marriage 
necessary, 153. 

Rational choice of the people, 411. 


INDEX 


Ratzenhofer, 285, 324, 524, 561. 

Readjustment of society, 336. 

Recent development of sociology, 558. 

Recent philosophy, 5409. 

Reform, program of, 407. 

Reformation, 495. 

Regulation, of holding, transmission and 
interchange of property, 181; of 
labor, 184; of marriage as a remedy 
for divorce, 151; of trade and indus- 
try, 183; of trades for sanitary pur- 
poses, 185. 

Reid, Dr. George, 132. 

Relation, of individual to the group, 
103; of individual to the mass, 409. 

Relationships, social, 104. 

Religion, a strong factor in society 
building, 265; and _ social progress, 
264; genius and origin of, 254; _his- 
toric theories of origin of, 240; in- 
fluence of, on family life, 120; influence 
of, on social development, 239; origin 
of, 230, 249. 

Religious forms and ceremonies, 260. 

Remedies for divorce, proposed, 150. 

Resemblance, law of conscious, 321. 

Resentment of injustice, 352. 

Results of charity of the church, 463. 

Revelation, 381; origin of religion and, 
239. 

Rise, of charity organization movement, 
472; of governing class, 389; of in- 
dustrial classes of traders, 212. 

Robertson, Dr. John, 132. 

Roman Republic, 380. 

Rooneys, the, 505. 

Roosevelt, Theodore, 492. 

Roscher, 557. 

Ross, E. A., 38, 40, 41, 107, 226, 285, 
286, 325, 320, 341, 353, 358, 361, 
364, 524, 351, 560, 561. 

Rousseau, Jean Jacques, 175, 546. 

Rowntree, 535. 

Ruskin, 540. 


Sacred places and natural phenomena, 
261. 

St. John, Mr., 536. 

Saint-Simon, C. H. de, 382, 546. 

Sanitation, including regulation of trades 
for sanitary purposes, 185. 

Schaeffle, August, 556. 

Schmoller, 557. 

Scientific method, observance of, 44. 

Scientific out-relief, principles of, 475. 





583 


Scientific study of society, need of, to. 

Segregation of wards of the state in 
separate institutions, 517. 

Selection of facts bearing upon the social 
problem, 530. 

Semple, Ellen, 67. 

Sense of justice, 351. 

Service of capital in the production of 
‘wealth, 197. 

Services of medicine man and priest, 
259. 

Settlement of tribes, 77. 

Severus, 461. 

Sheldon, Charles H., 432. 

Shiftlessness and idle habits, 443. 

Simmel, Professor Georg, 524, 562. 

Sioux, 510. 

Slow accumlation of wealth, 192. 

Small, Albion W., 285, 524, 559, 562. 

Small and Vincent, 346. 

Small or large family, 127. 

Smith, Adam, 223, 546, 553. 

Smith, Eugene, 480. 

Smith, Robertson, 247. 

Smoky Pilgrims, 507. 

So-called social organism, 08. 

Social action, land or nature as a basis 
of, 105; laws of implusive, 322; 
social forms preceded by, 82. 

Social activities, 15. 

Social activity, standards of, differ in 
different communities, 426. 

Social aim, immediate, 376. 

Social aims, laws of, 3109. 

Social causes, of crime, 484; of degenera- 
tion, 509. 

Social choice, laws of, 319. 

Social classification of individuals, 399. 

Social composition, 95. 

Social consciousness, 331. 

Social constitution, 99. 

Social consumption, 200. 

Social contract, 175. 

Social control, by ceremony, 358; mean- 
ing of, 349; through intellectual 
factors, 363. 

Social codperation, form of, 4. 

Social degeneration, nature of, 499. 

Social development, 67; egoism versus 
altruism in, 230; influence of reli- 
gion on, 230. 

Social direction of society in the interests 
of the individual, 4109. 

Social effects, of exchange, 207; of or- 
ganization of industry, 197. 


584 


Social effort, conscious, 312. 


INDEX 


Social well-being, 194. 


Social environment, inequalities arising | Social will, 345; of democracy, 3or. 


from, 403; influence of the, 290. 

Social evolution, 46, 51; and the theory 
of the state, 172. 

Social factors in choosing mate, 154. 

Social forces, classification of, 283. 

Social forms, 15, 105; preceded by social 
action, 82. 

Social group, advancement of, 87; per- 
petuation of the, 85; preservation of 
the, 84; relation of the individual 
to the, 103; the survival of the, 74. 

Social ideals of marriage, raising the, 153. 

Social importance of ethics, 220; of 
exchange, 206. 

Social integration, development of groups 
out of, 94; necessity of, 94. 

Socialism, modern, 382. 

Socialistic experiments, modern, 383. 

Socialistic theories, advocates of, 382. 

Social life, specific training for, 306. 

Social mind, formal expressions of the, 
336; steps in the formation of the, 
334. 

Social order, 180; basis of, 350; com- 
plexity of the, ro. 

Social organism, comparison of the 
biological with the, 17; the so-called, 
98. 

Social organization, beginnings of, 55; 
improvement of, 215; meaning of, 
03, 98; psychic factors in, 18. 

Social organs, other, 104. 

Social origins, 51. 

Social pathology, characteristics of, 426. 

Social philosophers, experimental, 547. 

Social position of women, changes in, 
147. 

Social pressure, 60. 

Social production, complex nature of, 
193. 

Social progress, religion and, 264. 

Social relationships, 104. 

Social religion, control of, 356. 

Social sciences, differentiation of, 23; 
groups of, 26. 

Social status of the family, 136. 

Social structures, law of development of, 
324. 

Social suggestion, control by, 354. 

Social survey, 534. 

Social types, 510. 

Social unit, the family as a, 112. 

Social versus individual wealth, 194. 


Society, animal, 9; closer integration of, 
414; constituent parts of, 100; 
differentiation of, in structure and 
function, 415; forms of, 5; formula- 
tion of a science of, 11; human, 9g, 
523; is aim fixed and unchangeable, 
375; natural conditions that influence, 
288; normal distinguished from ab- 
normal, 425; of animals, 53; organic 
conception of, 16; readjustment of, 
336; social direction of, in the in- 
terests of the individual, 419; survi- 
val of, 510; the cosmic and the ethical 
processes of, 20; the nature of, 7; 
the object of, 36; types of, 9; ulti- 
mate aim of, 376. 

Society building, religion a strong factor 
in, 265. 

Sociological effects of changes in pro- 
cesses of social production, 108. 

Sociological field, map of, 42, 43. 

Sociological purpose, 529. 

Sociological thought, basis of, 552. 

Sociology, characteristic mark of, 24; 
concrete method of, 39; definition of, 
13; dynamic, 19; forerunners of, 
552; foundation of, 32; founders of, 
553; historical development of, 541; 
many phrases of, 45; methods of, 
39; organic conception of, 556; peda- 
gogic limits of, 27; place among the 
social sciences, 23; problems of, 37; 
progress of, 555; purpose and method 
of, 35; recent development of, 558; 
relation to anthropology, 30; relation 
to history, 30; relation to political 
economy, 28; relation to political 
science, 29; relation to psychology 
and biology, 28; scientific nature of, 
22; static, 19; treats of forces which 
tend to organize and _ perpetuate 
society, 17; treats of the growth of 
society, 14; treats of the laws con- 
trolling social activities, 18; treats 
of the origin of society, 14; unit of 
investigation in, 38; varies from 
other social sciences chiefly on account 
of its general nature, 41; various con- 
ceptions of, 31. 

Socrates, 300, 492. 

Solon, 174, 547. 

Special investigation, 532. 

Specific methods, 532. 


INDEX 


Specific training for social life, 396. 

Spencer, Herbert, 23, 28, 32, 44, 67, 90, 
106, I17, 242, 243, 244, 349, 524, 525, 
554, 555, 556. 

Spiritual development, law of, 325. 

Standards of social activity differ in 
different communities, 426. 

Standish, Miles, 507. 

State, beginnings of federation of, 169; 
building, prominent forces in, 165; 
characteristics of the, 157; charity of 
the, 464; divine origin of the, 173; 
essential functions of the, 179; ethnic 
basis of the, 160; from a sociological 
point of view, 187; limits of the powers 
of the, 186; management of industry, 
184; modern social, 170; must pre- 
serve its life and maintain its political 
relationship with foreign powers, 183; 
nature of the, 157; optional functions 
of, 183; origin of the, 159; pathology 
of, 430; prominent forces in building, 
165; social evolution and the theory 
of the, 172; theories of, 173. 

Stelzle, Rev. Charles, 536. 

Stephen, James Fitzjames, 488. 

Steps in the formation of the social 
mind, 334. 

Stricter regulation of marriage, 151. 

Struggle, of classes, 199; shifting from 
physical to psychical basis, 21. 

Stuckenberg, J. H. W., 285. 

Subject of study, limitation of the, 530. 

Sullivan, W., 503. 

Summary, 455. 

Survey, social, 534. 

Survival, and progress, law of, 326; of 
the best, 21; of the social group, 74; 
of society, 510. 

Sutherland, J., 482. 

Swiss federation, 380. 

Sympathy, progress of ethical practice 
through, 229. 

System of charity, Hamburg-Elberfeld, 
465; Indiana, 470. 


Talbot, Eugene S., 499. 

Talmud, 547. 

Tarde, M. Gabriel, 32, 316, 317, 
339, 524, 562; laws of, 316. 

Theories, advocates of socialistic, 382; 
evolutionary, 178; of Malthus, 195; 
of publicists, 176; of Weismann, 415; 
state, 173; utilitarian, 374. 

Thlinklets, 510. 


320, 


585 


Thomas, Professor William I., 524, 561. 

Tiele, C. P., 244, 325. 

Tonnies, 524. 

Trade and industry, regulation of, 183. 

Traders, rise of industrial classes of, 212. 

Tradition, laws of, 323. 

Traditions of lawgivers, 174. 

Transition from ethnic to civil society, 
161; from natural to civil justice, 235. 

Tribal organization, 164. 

Tribe of Ishmael, 507. 

Tribes, settlement of, 77. 

Tubal-Cain, 254. 

Tullius, Servius, 547, 548. 

Turgot, 553. 

Tylor, Edward B., 241, 242, 243, 244. 

Types, of society, 9; social, 510. 


Uhlhorn, Gerhard, 462. 

Ultimate aim of society, 376. 

Undervitalization and indolence, 437. 

Unhealthful appetites, 440. 

Universality of charity among nations, 
458. 

Unwholesome and poorly cooked food, 


444. 

Unwise philanthropy, 453. 

Use, of money to facilitate exchange, 
211; of the library, 524. 

Utilitarian theory, 374. 


Various forms of land tenure, 80. 
Various uses of land, 71. 

Vairasse d’Allais, 545. 

Veblen, Thorstein, 558. 

Vice, 428. 

Vico, 553. 

Vincent, George E., 550, 563. 
Voltaire, 306. 

Voluntary associations, 6. 

Von Treitschke, 67. 


Wants, efforts to satisfy, 73. 

War, the force of, 65. 

Ward, Lester F., 27, 28, 32, 44, 82, 83, 
I16, 201, 232, 285, 301, 327, 340, 340, 
499, 524, 554, 558, 550. 

Warner, Amos G., 438, 562. 

Wasserman test's, 152. 

Wealth, approved modes of acquiring, 
216; disapproved modes of acquiring, 
216; increased service of, in behalf 
of humanity, 418; interests, 305; 
labor as a means of production of, 
196; production, labor as a means of, 


586 INDEX 


Wealth, Continued. Wilson, Woodrow, 159, 178, 170. : 
196; service of capital in production | Wolowski, 557. 
of, 197; slow accumlation of, 192;} Woman’s movement and the size of the 


social versus individual, 194. family, 134. 
Webster, Hutton, 104. Women, changes in social position of, 
Weismann, August, theory of, 415. 147; mental emancipation of, 148. 
Welfare interests, 311. Woods, Robert A., 535 . 
Well-being, importance of, 194. ’ | Worms, René, 556. 
Wesley, John, 254. Wundt, Wilhelm, 224. 
Westermarck, Edward, 55, 224, 225. 
Will, social, 345, Zeros, the, 505. 


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